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O 


LD 


j 


SHORT    SAYINGS 


OF 


GKEAT  MEN 


WITH 


HISTOEICAL    AND    EXPLANATORY   NOTES 


BY 

SAMUEL  ARTHUR  BENT,  A.M. 


Plato  was  asked  if  some  saying  of  his  would  not  be  recorded. 
"  Wait  until  we  become  famous,"  he  replied,  "  and  then  there 
will  be  many." 

Pereaut  illi  qui  ante  nos  nostra  dixerunt. 

DONATUS. 

Wer  kann  was  Dummes,  wer  was  Kluges  denken, 
Das  nicht  die  Vorwelt  schon  gedacht? 

Faust. 


SECOND   EDIT")N. 

BOSTON 
JAMES  R.  OSGOOD  AND  COMPANY 

1882 


44'.  S  "3 


COPYRIGHT,  1882, 
BY  JAMES  R.  OSGOOD  AND  COMPANY. 


All  rights  reserved. 


/ 


jFrankltn 

RAND,    AVERY,   AND   COMPANY, 
BOSTON. 


. 


PEEFAOE. 


OF  some  one  of  the  many  thousand  brief  and  pith}7  re- 
marks which  the  great  men  and  women  of  history  have 
uttered,  generally  without  premeditation,  yet  stamped  with 
the  seal  of  immortality,  the  question  is  often  asked,  "  Who 
said  it  ?  When  was  it  said  ?  Under  what  circumstances? ' 
These  questions  are  to  some  extent  answered  in  the  follow- 
ing pages.  Curiosity,  if  not  gratitude,  would  wish  to  fol- 
low to  their  source  words  which  have,  during  the  centuries 
since  their  first  appearance,  come  repeatedly  to  man's  aid 
in  the  sudden  emergencies  wherein  history  repeats  itself. 
Many  of  them  adorn  the  page  of  the  historian,  giving  to 
narrative  its  local  color,  and  lending  to  descriptions  of  char- 
acter the  air  and  dignity  of  authenticity.  Research  may, 
therefore,  pay  the  debt  of  history  by  relieving  such  sayings 
of  all  adventitious  circumstance,  by  removing  those  which 
belong  to  history  from  the  domain  of  tradition,  and  rele- 
gating others  to  the  abode  of  myth.  Strangest  of  the  fictions 
of  history  are  the  historic  mots  which  have  made  Julian  a 
blasphemer,  Charles  IX.  a  murderer,  and  Louis  XIII.  a  mon- 
ster. To  banish  calumny  from  serious  literature  is  a  service 
to  truth.  Only  the  romantic  element  of  history  will  thereby 


111 


IV  PREFACE. 


suffer.  The  weeds  and  vines  which  gave  a  parasitic  charm 
to  the  ruins  of  Rome  hastened  their  decay :  they  were  there- 
fore removed. 

A  Latin  poet  has  asserted  that  there  was  no  saying  which 
had  not  been  already  said.  In  later  times,  Henry  IV.  will 
be  surprised  to  know  that  Agesilaus  preceded  him  in  that 
royal  game  of  romps  which  both  kings  thought  only  a  father 
could  appreciate.  The  poet  Rogers  was  not  the  first  to  pre- 
fer the  art  of  forgetting  to  that  of  memory ;  and  Talleyrand 
has  reason  to  invoke  the  curse  of  Donatus,  "  Perish  the  men 
who  said  our  good  things  before  us ! '  No  one  better  than 
Fournier,  in  his  "Esprit  dans  1'Histoire,"  has  plucked  the 
stolen  plumage  from  the  daw.  I  cannot  acknowledge  my 
obligations  to  this  iconoclast  of  bons  mots  without  borrowing 
Madame  du  Deffand's  judgment  of  Montesquieu's  "Esprit 
des  Lois,"— that  his  "Wit  in  History"  should  be  called 
"Wit  on  History." 

In  collecting  true  and  notable  sayings,  and  happy  thoughts 
flashed  in  the  heat  of  controversy  or  the  war  of  wit,  I  have 
taken  no  account  of  what  men  have  written  in  books,  save 
as  such  written  words  illustrate  their  own  or  others'  speech ; 
nor  will  all  the  sayings  of  ancient  or  modern  times  be  in- 
cluded in  five  hundred  pages.  Such  a  compilation  would  be 
as  impossible  as  to  bring  into  one  volume  every  historic 
event  which  has  stirred  man  to  heroic  utterance,  or  every 
idea  with  which  the  sublime  and  the  beautiful  have  inspired 
the  scholar  and  the  poet.  Too  liberal  an  intention  has  not 
been  given  to  the  title,  "Great  Men."  Those  who  remem- 

o  ' 

ber  Lysauder's  maxim,  that,  "  where  the  lion's  skin  fails  to 


PREFACE. 


reach,  it  must  be  pieced  out  with  the  fox's,"  may  ask  if  it 
is  the  lion's  robe  which  covers  both  Julius  Caesar  and  Sir 
Boyle  Roche.  If  so,  they  have  forgotten  that  Goethe  did 
not  confine  his  question  to  the  clever  things  which  one  cen- 
tury borrows  from  another,  —  even  dulness  has  its  place  :  — 

"  Who  can  think  wise  or  stupid  things  at  all, 
That  were  not  thought  already  in  the  past  ?  " 

BOSTON,  Aug.  1,  1882. 


AUTHOES   OF  SAYINGS. 


PAGE 

ADAMS,  JOHN 1, 554 

ADAMS,  J.  Q 2 

ADDISON 2 

184 
508 

AGESILAUS  II 3,279 

AGIS  II 4,  5 

AGIS  IV 5 

AGRIPPINA 422 

ALARIC 24 

ALBOUYS 495 

ALCIBIADES 5 

D'ALEMBERT G 

D'ALENCON,  Due 338 

ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT     .    .        7 

ALEXANDER  1 5,  11,  522 

ALFONSO  X 12 

ALFRED  THE  GREAT  ....    351 
ALONSO  OF  ARAGON  ....    466 

ALVA 13,59 

ALVANLEY,  LORD 503 

AMBROSE,  ST 14 

AMES,  FISHER 15 

AN ACH ARSIS 508,  509 

ANAXAGORAS 16 

ANDRE,  MAJOR 267 

ANGUS,  EARL  OF 16 

AXHALT-DESSAU,  L.  VON    .    .      16 
AN.IOU,  CHARLES  OF  ....    278 

ANTAGORAS 17 

ANTIGONUS  I.     ...     17,  163,  541 

ANTIGONUS  II 18 

APELLES  18 


PAGE 

APPLETON,  T.  G 19 

AQUINAS,  ST.  T 19 

ARAGON,  PETER  OF    ....  278 

ARBUTHNOT 567 

ARCHESTRATUS 9 

ARCHIDAMUS  III 20 

ARCHIMEDES 20 

D' ARGENSON,  COMTE  ,    .     .  21 ,  565 

D'ARGENSON,  MME 22 

ARIOSTO 207 

ARISTIDES  ........  22 

ARISTOTLE 22 

ARNAUD,  ABBOT 121 

D'ARNAUD,  BACULARD    .    .    .  234 

ARNAULD,  A 65 

ARNOUD,  PERE 514 

ARNOULD,  SOPHIE 23 

ASHLEY,  LORD 17 

ATHENODORUS 28 

ATTILA 24 

D'AUDRIFFET-PASQUIER  ...  26 

AUGEREAU 26 

AURELIUS,  MARCUS     ....  252 

AUGUSTUS 24,  532 

D'AUTEROCHES,  COMTE   .    .  391,  408 

D'AZEGLIO,  MASSIMO  ....  539 

BACON,  FRANCIS 28 

BACON,  SIR  N 30 

BAILLY 31,  387 

BANCAL 495 

BARBAROUX 32, 67 

BABCA  270 


vii 


Vlll 


AUTHORS  OF  SAYINGS. 


PAGE 

BARERE 33,  406 

BARNAVE 34 

BARRAS 496 

BARRE,  COL 36 

BART,  JEAN 36 

BASSOMPIERRE 36 

BATBIE 37 

BATH,  MARQUIS  OF     ....    558 

BAUDIN,  A 32 

BAWR,  MME.  DE 67 

BAYARD,  CHEVALIER  ....      37 

BAZIRE 39 

BEACONSFIELD,  EARL  OF,  39,  68,  71, 
128,  185,  218,  251,  438,  542,  566. 

BEAUCLERK,  T 292 

BECKET,  THOMAS  A    ....      49 

BEECHER,  H.  W 49 

BEETHOVEN 50 

BELISARIUS 30 

BENTIVOGLIO,  CARDINAL  .  .  381 
BENTLEY,  RICHARD  ....  51 
BERNARDIN  DE  ST.-PIERRE  .  495 
BERNIS,  CARDINAL  DE  .  .  .  52 

BERRYER 52,  350,  389 

BETTERTON,  T 53 

BEUGNOT,  COUNT 355 

BEZA,  THEODORE  DE  .    .    .    .    555 

BIAS 53,507,523 

BIEVRE,  MARQUIS  DE.    .    .    .      54 

BIRON,  Due  DE 54 

BISMARCK 55, 168,  526 

BITONTE,  BISHOP  OF  ....  121 
BLESSINGTON,  LADY  ....  63 

BLOIS,  BISHOP  OF 544 

BLOMFIELD,  BISHOP   ....    521 

BOERNE 388 

BOILEAU 64,  158 

BOLINGBROKE,  LORD  ....  66 
BONAPARTE,  CHARLES  ...  67 

BONIFACE  VIII 68 

BORGIA,  CAESAR 221 

BOSQUET,  GEN 68 

BOSSUET 68, 211, 342 

BOURDALOUE 70 


PAGE 

BOUVARD,  DR 522 

BRANDENBURG,  ALBERT  OF    .    424 

BRENNUS 70 

BRESSE,  COMTE  DE     ....    3ot> 
BKIL.GEWATER,  LORD  ....    195 

BRIGHT,  JOHN 47,  70 

BRISSOT 71 

BRISTOL,  LORD 453 

BROUGHAM,  LORD  .    .    .    .     27, 72 
BRUMMELL,  "BEAU"     ...      74 

BRUTUS,  MARCUS 96 

BUFFON 74 

BULLER,  JUSTICE 502 

BURGER 76 

BURGH  LEY,  LORD 76 

BURGUNDY,  DUKE  OF  ....      76 
BURGUNDY,  DUCHESS  OF     .    .      77 
BURKE,  E.,  77,  288,  410, 427, 447, 531, 
535,  508,  569. 

BURR,  A 86 

BUSBY,  DR 114 

BYRON,  LORD     ...     87,  396,  465 

OESAR,  JULIUS  ...     89,  106,  143 

CALIGULA 96,  484,  532 

CALONNE 97 

CAMBRONNE 423 

CAMDEN,  LORD 226 

CANNING 73,97,432 

CARACCIOLI 545 

CARACTACUS 99 

CARLYLE,  T 99,  487 

CARNOT 495,522,523 

CAROLINE  MATILDA    ....    100 
CASTLEREAGH,  LORD  ....    101 

CATHERINE  II 93,  102 

CATHERINE  OF  A R AGON      .    .    102 
CATHERINE  DE  MEDICI  .    .    .    103 

CATINAT 163,233 

CATO 103 

CAVOUR 107,  574 

CHAILLON 495 

CHAMBORD,  COMTE  DE   .    .    .    108 
CHAMFORT 109,  380,  556 


AUTHORS  OF  SAYINGS. 


IX 


PAGE 

CHARLES  1 31,  111 

CHARLES  II 112 

CHARLES   V.,    EMPEROR,  105,  117, 

223,  271,  398. 

CHARLES  V.  (FRANCE)  .  .  .  430 
CHARLES  IX.  "  ...  119 

CHARLES  X.         "  .      122, 343 

CHARLES  XII.  (SWEDEN),  123,  404, 

435,  559. 

CHARLES  ALBERT 124 

CHATEAUBRIAND  .  .  125,  523,  561 
CHATHAM,  LORD  .  .  .  126,  153 

CHEKE,  SIR  JOHN 332 

CHENIER,  A 129 

CHESTERFIELD,  LORD,  75,  127,  130, 

379,  526. 

CHILO 137, 508 

CHOATE,  RUFUS 138 

CHRISTIAN  OF  BRUNSWICK  .  200 
CHRISTINA,  QUEEN  ....  140 
CICERO  .  8,  15,  52,  105,  141,  511,  532 

CINEAS 454 

CLAUDIUS,  APPIUS 415 

CLAY,  HENRY 149 

CLEMENT  1 150 

CLEMENT  VII 150 

CLEMENT  XIV.  ......    150 

CLEOBULINE 151 

CLEOBULUS  .  .  .  .151, 356, 508 
CLERMONT-TONNERRE,  Due  DE,  325 

CLOTAIRE  1 151 

CLOUGH,  A.  H 100 

CLOVIS  1 152 

COBDEN,  R 220 

COKE,  SIR  E 86,  153 

COLERIDGE,  S.  T.,  154,  386,  403,  515, 

526. 

COLIGNY 119 

CONDE,  PRINCE  DE     ....    157 
CONDE,  PRINCE  DE  (THE  GREAT),  37, 
70, 157,  163. 

CONDORCET 244 

CONFUCIUS 158,  508 

CONSTANT,  B.     ......    346 


PAGE 

CONST ANTINE  THE  GREAT  .    .  1(50 

CONSTANTINK,  GRAND  DUKE  .  161 

CONSTANTIUS 163 

CORDAY,  CHARLOTTE.    .    .    .  161 

CORNELIA 162 

CORNUEL,  MME.  DE    .     .    .    .  163 

CORREGGIO 164 

CORTEZ 14 

COWLEY,  LORD 57 

CRANMER,  ARCHBISHOP  .    .    .    165 

CREWE,  SIR  R 165 

CRILLON 152 

CRITTENDEN,  J.  J.     .    .      179,  180 
CROMWELL      ....  166,  204,  553 

CRUGER 78 

CUMBERLAND,  BISHOP    .    .    .    169 
CURRAN,  J.  P.,  169,427,464,511,513 

DANTON 172 

DARC,  JEANNE 177 

DAVID 178,462 

DECATUR,  COM 179 

DEFFAND,  MME.  DU    .    .      180, 213 

DEMADES 182, 442 

DEMOCRITUS 189 

DEMONAX 28,  158,  182 

DEMOSTHENES     .    .    .  173,  183, 213 

DENMAN,  LORD 184 

DENNIS,  JOHN 184 

DE  QUINCEY,  T 100 

DERBY,  EARL  OF   ...      185,  276 

DESAIX 186 

DESMOULINS,  CAMILLE,  122, 180, 187, 
535. 

DEWITT 130 

DIDEROT     .    .    .     102,  188, 214, 469 

DIOCLETIAN 118 

DIOGENES 104, 188,  379 

DIONYSIUS 190 

Dix,  JOHN  A 190 

DRUSUS,  M.  L 190 

DUBOIS,  CARDINAL     ....    191 

DUCLOS 368 

Ducos  191 


AUTHORS   OF  SAYINGS. 


PAGE 

DUDLEY,  LORD  ....      383,  503 

DUFOCE 72 

DUFRESXY 298 

DUGOMMIER,  GEN 496 

DUMOURIEZ 192 

DUPIN 193 

EDGE  WORTH,  ABBE    ....    353 

EDWARD  III 194 

EGLINTOUNE,  EARL  OF  ...  313 
ELDON,  LORD  ....  73,  195,  293 

ELIOT,  SIR  HUGH 238 

ELISABETH,  MME 408 

ELIZABETH,  QUEEN  .  .  195, 455 
ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA  .  .  199 
ELLENBOROUGH,  LORD  .  .  .  200 

EMERSON,  R.  W 99,  139 

D'ENGHIEN,  Due 202 

EPAMIXONDAS 4, 271 

D'EPERNON,  Due 204 

EPICURUS 551 

ERASMUS 204,  397,  398 

ERIGENA 205 

ERMELAND,  BISHOP  OF  ...    238 
ERSKIXE,  LORD,  143,  192,  206,  221, 
433. 

ESSEX,  EARL  OF 510 

D'ESTE,  CARDINAL  ....  207 
D'ESTREES,  CARDINAL  .  .  .  343 

ETEOCLES 9 

EUCLID 208 

EUGENIE,  EMPRESS     ....    208 

FAILLY,  GEN.  DE 109 

FAYORIXUS 209 

F  AYR  AS,  MARQUIS  DE  .  .  .  368 
FAYRE,  JULES  ...  61,  209,  472 

FEXELON 210, 484 

FEUDIXAXD  1 372 

FERDINAND  II 267 

FERRY,  JULES 212 

FERTE,  MARSHAL  DE  LA     .    .    486 

FIESCO 89 

FLETCHER  OF  SALTOUN  .    .    .    481 


PAGE 
FONTENELLE  .    .    .66,  212,  322,  551 

FOOTE,  SAMUEL 214 

FOUCHE 123,  202,  217 

Fox,  C.  J.,  81,  205,  218,  447,  515,  561 
FRANCIS  I.  ...  12,  38,  221,  291 

FRANCIS  II 119 

FRANCIS  II.,  EMPEROR  .      225,  406 

FRAXCIS  JOSEPH 57 

FRANCIS,  SIR  P 88 

FRANKLIN,  B 189,  225 

FREDERICK  1 229 

FREDERICK  III 230 

FREDERICK  THE  GREAT,  155,  181, 

189,  218,  231,  252,  302,  315,  345, 

390. 

FREDERICK,  ELECTOR  .  .  .  199 
FREDERICK  WILLIAM  I.  .  .  336 
FRERE,  HOOKHAM  .  .  .  157, 239 
FREUNDSBERG,  G.  VON  .  .  .  359 
FUSELI 239 

GAINSBOROUGH,  T 240 

GALIANI,  ABBE  ....      240,  283 

GALILEO 241 

GALLITZIN,  PRINCE  ....  204 
GAMBETTA  .  173,  178,  242,  418,  529 

GARFIELD,  J.  A 244 

GARRICK 259 

GARTH,  DR 245 

GENLIS,  MME.  DE 64 

GEXTIL 495 

GEOFFRIN,  MME.  DE  .    .    .    .    245 

GEORGE  1 246,  248 

GEORGE  II 246,  248,  334 

GEORGE  III 113,  247 

GEORGE  IV 248 

GLADSTONE,  W.  E.,  63, 101,  249,  438, 

471. 
GOETHE,  58,  69,  75,  88,  100,  138,  208, 

252, 320, 328, 381, 384, 394, 403, 405, 

432,  474,  480,  508,  530,  551. 
GOLDSMITH,  OLIVER,  259,  313,  314, 

318. 
GORDON  OF  GLENBUCKET  .    .      38 


AUTHORS   OF  SAYINGS. 


XI 


PAGE 

GORTSCHAKOFF 2G1 

GOURGUES,   D.   DE 194 

GRANT,  U.  S 2G1 

GRATTAN,  H.  .     .    154,  2G3,  312,  561 

GREGORY  1 2G3 

GREGORY  VII 02 

GRETRY 2G4 

GRIMM,  BARON 75 

GUATEMOZIN 2G5 

GUISE,  Due  DE 119 

GUIZOT 2G5 

GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS      .    .    .  2GG 

HADRIAN 267, 336 

HALE,  NATHAN 2G7 

HALIFAX,  VISCOUNT  ....  113 
HALL,  ROBERT,  15,  86,  268,  3G5, 

552. 

HAMMOND,  J.  H 489 

HAMPDEN,  JOHN 166 

HANDEL 269 

HANNIBAL 106,  270 

HARDINGE,  GEORGE  ....  35 
HARLAY,  ARCHBISHOP  .  .  .  21,1 

HARRISON,  W.  H 463 

HAUSSMANN,  BARON    ....    227 

HAYES,  R.  B 271 

HAZLITT,  WILLIAM     ....    325 

HEINE 55, 253,  272 

HENAULT,  PRESIDENT     .    .    .    182 

HENRY  II 49 

HENRY  VIII.  .  .  .  223,273,396 
HENRY  IV.  (FRANCE),  95,  152,  167, 

221,  274,  458. 

HENRY  V.,  EMPEROR.  .  .  .  145 
HENRY,  PATRICK  ....  149,  280 
D'HERBOIS,  COLLOT  ....  473 

HOBBES 276 

HOLLAND,  LORD 483 

HOOK,  THEODORE 280 

HOPE,  BERESFORD 44 

D'HOUDETOT,  MME 324 

HUGO,  VICTOR,  225,  260,  281, 511, 554 
Huss,  JOHN 284 


PAGE 
INNOCENT  XII 211 

ISABELLA,  QUEEN 456 

ISNARD Ill 

JACKSON,  ANDREW.  .  .  .92, 284 
JAMES  I.  ...  196,  285,  480,  5i':; 

JAMES  II 2<S6 

JAMES  V 198 

JEFFERSON,  THOMAS  .  .  .32,  287 
JEKYLL,  JOSEPH  .  .  202,  288,  372 
JERROLD,  DOUGLAS  ....  289 
JERVIS,  CHIEF  JUSTICE  .  .  .  259 

JOHN  II 291 

JOHN  XII 232 

JOHN,  ELECTOR 230 

JOHNSON,  DR.,  23,  64,  69,  75,  83,  86, 
105,  137,  164,  208,  215,  220,  221, 
231,  259,  260,  291,  320,  363,  373, 
444,  481,  488,  532,  557,  558. 

JONES\PAUL 314 

JOSEPH  II 102,  314,  469 

JOSEPHINE 410 

JUGURTHA 265 

JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE  .  .  117,  316 
JULIUS  II.  .....'...  317 

JULIUS  III .431 

JUNOT 317 

JUSTINIAN 317 

KAMES,  LORD 318 

KARR,  ALPHONSE   ....  318,  526 

KEATS 319 

KELL,  DEPUTY 463 

KNELLER,  SIR  G 319 

KOSCIUSKO 326,  424,  564 

KOSSUTH 282 

LABERIUS 148 

LACORDAIRE  .  .  .91,  169,  319,  559 
LA  FAYETTE  ....  323,  497,  561 
LA  FAYETTE,  MME.  DE  .  .  .  487 

LA  FONTAINE 321 

LA  HARPE 485 

LALANDE,  M.  DE 512 


Xll 


AUTHORS   OF  SAYINGS. 


PAGE 

LAMARTINE 322, 530 

LAMB,  CHARLES 324 

LA  MEILLERAYE,  MME.  DE    .    325 

LAMENNAIS 319,  419 

LANGRISHE,  SIR  H.     .    .    .   ..      82 

LANNES 117,  401 

LANSDOWNE,  LORD  ....  505 
LA  ROCHEFOUCAULD  .  .  329,  529 
LA  ROCHEFOUCAULD-LIAN  .  352,  391 
LA  ROCHEJAQUELIN  ....  221 

LASKER 58 

LATLMER,  BISHOP 325 

LAUDERDALE,  LORD  ....  523 
LAURAGUAIS,  COMTE  DE  .  .  545 

LAVICOMTERIE 495 

LAWRENCE,  CAPT 326 

LAYARD,  A.  H 327 

LEBCEUF,  MARSHAL     ....    209 

LECARO,  F.  M 343 

LEE,  HENRY 561 

LEHNERT 395 

LEIBNITZ 396 

L'ENCLOS,  N.  DE 327 

LENTHALL,  SPEAKER  ....  112 

LEO  X 205,  329 

LEONIDAS 329 

LEOPOLD,  ARCHDUKE  ....  332 
LESCZINSKA,  MARIE  ....  330 
LE  TELLIER,  ARCHBISHOP  .  .  286 

LEVIS,  Due  DE 331 

LEWIS,  SIR  G  C 331 

LioARirs 96 

LIGNE,  PRINCE  DE 332 

LINCOLN,  A 333 

LINGUET 332 

LITTRE 415 

Lons  XI 335 

Louis  XII 13,  336 

Louis  XIII 337 

Louis  XIV.  .  36,  163,  338,  355,  377 
Louis  XV.,  110, 195, 351, 449, 450,  546 

Louis  XVI 73,  350,  404 

Louis  XVIII 222,  354 

Louis  (DAUPHIN) 353 


PAGE 
Louis  (PRINCE  IMPERIAL)  .    .    417 

Louis  PHILIPPE  1 356,  522 

LOUISA,  QUEEN 402 

LOUGHBOROUGH,  LORD    .     .     .    113 
LOWNDES,  WILLIAM    ....    131 

LUCULLUS,  L 357 

LUTHER  .    204,  253,  270,  358,  372,  396 

LUTTRELL,  II 360 

LUXEMBOURG,  MARSHAL     .    .    361 

LYCURGUS 362 

LYNDHURST,  LORD      ....    482 

LYSANDER 9,  362 

LYTTELTON,  LORD 363 

LYTTON,  LORD 363 

MABLY,  ABBE 77 

MACAULAY,  LORD 363 

MACKINTOSH,  SIR  J.  .    .      263,  364 
MACMAHON,  MARSHAL   .     109,  365 

MAINE,  Due  DE 347 

MAINTENON,  MME.  DE,  349,  366,  377 

MALEBRANCHE 549 

MALESHERBES 367 

MALHERBE 368 

MANCINI,  MARIA 369 

MANNING,  Gov 489 

MANSFIELD,  LORD  .    .    .     370, 466 

MARAT 270, 373 

MARCIAX 24 

MARCY,  W.  L 288 

MARIA  THERESA 356 

MARIE  ANTOINETTE    .     35,  315,  375 

MARION,  FRANCIS 39 

MARIUS,  CAIUS    ....     143,  376 

MARMONTEL 240 

MARY,  QUEEN 419 

MASSILLON  .    .    .    235,  350,  377,  508 

MASSIEU 254 

MATHER,  COTTON 226 

MAUPERTUIS    ....     75,  377,  423 

MAURY,  ABBE 378 

MAXIMILIAN  1 360 

MAYNARD,  SIR  J 379 

MAZARIN,  CARDINAL,  132,250,350,380 


AUTHORS   OF  SAYINGS. 


xni 


PAGE 
M/KCENAS 437 

MELANCHTHON 437 

MENAGE 153 

METTERNICH 261,  381 

MIALL,  EDWARD 47 

MICHAEL  ANGELO 383 

MIGNARD 347 

MILLAUD 58 

MILLICENT,  SIR  J 297 

MILLER,  COL.  J 326 

MILO       143 

MILTON,  JOHN 385 

MIKABEAU,  36,  89,  228,  349,  376,  386, 

494,  505,  522. 

MlRABEAU,   VlCOMTE  DE       .      .  390 

MOHAMMED 275,393 

MOLIERE 394 

MOLTKE 395 

MONTALEMBERT 320 

MONTCALM 334 

MONTESQUIEU 396 

MONTEZUMA 187 

MONTMORENCY,  CONST.  DE     .    349 

MOORE,  T 396,  429 

MORE,  SIR  T 397 

MORTON,  EARL  OF     ....    117 

MOTLEY,  J.  L 19 

MOUNTAIN,  BISHOP     ....    398 
MURAT 349,425 

NAPIER,  SIR  CHARLES  .  93,  94 
NAPOLEON  L,  5,  8,  11,  12,  15,  51,  60, 
90,  112,  152,  161,  164,  167,  177, 
186,  198,  200,  203,  204,  218,  222, 
225,  232,  233,  252,  254,  258,  267, 
270,  271,  287,  302,  318,  336,  348, 
350,  368,  377,  382,  389,  391,  398, 
418,  438,  488,  496,  520,  523,  564, 
565. 

NAPOLEON  III.  ...     57,  282,  400 
NAPOLEON,  PRINCE  (JEROME)     193 

NASH,  "BEAU" 395 

NASSAU,  MAURICE  OF     ...    271 
NECKER 388,412 


PAGE 

NELSON,  LORD    ....     400,  419 

NERO 421,  450 

NEWCASTLE,  DUKE  OF    ...    126 

NEWTON,  SIR  1 422 

NEY,  MARSHAL 2,  4i';i 

NICHOLAS  1 90,  425 

NICOLE 259 

NORBURY,  LORD     .    .    .      154, 426 

NORTH,  LORD 427 

NORTHCOTE,  JAMES    .  240,  428,  440 

O'CONNELL,  D.  .    .    .      40,  73,  429 

OLLIVIER,  E 209,  408 

OMAR,  CALIPH 429 

D'ORLEANS,  REGENT  .  .  430,  545 
D'ORLEANS,  Due  (EGALITE),431,495 
ORMOND,  DUKE  OF  ....  230 

D'OllTHEZ,   VlCQMTE    ....      121 

OVID 511 

OXENSTIERN 431 

PAGANEL 495 

PALAFOX 94 

PALMERSTON,  LORD  .  .  142, 432 
PANAT,  CHEVALIER  DE  .  .  .  521 

PAOLI 67 

PARR,  DR 208,  271,  432 

PAUL  III *  384 

PAUL  IV 69 

PAUL,  ARCHDUKE 332 

PAULET,  SIR  A 25 

PAULUS,  ^EMILIUS 433 

PEDRO  II 284 

PEEL,  SIR  R 98,  433 

PEMBROKE,  EARL  OF  .  .  .  .  313 
PENN,  WILLIAM  .  .  .  114, 434 

PERDICCAS 8 

PERICLES 434 

PERRY,  O.  H 326 

PESTEL,  COUNT 435 

PF.TER  THE  GREAT     ...    9,  435 

PETER  III 5 

PETERBOROUGH,  LORD  .  .  .  133 
PEYRAT  .  243 


AUTHORS  OF  SAYINGS. 


PAGE 

PHILIP  OF  MACEDON  ...    8,  436 

PHILIP  II 118,  250,  438 

PHILIP  IV 224 

PHILIP  AUGUSTUS 457 

PHILLIPS,  WENDELL  .  283,  407,  439 

PHILISKUS 385 

PHOCION 112,435,441 

PHOCION,  "WIFE  OF     ....    163 

PlCO  DE  LA  MlRANDOLA       .      .     504 

PIGOTT,  SIR  A 490 

PlNCKNEY,    C.   C 442 

PlRON 443 

PlTTACUS 271,  508 

PITT,  WILLIAM  ....     220,  445 

Pius  VII 404 

Pius  IX 82,  212,  346 

PLATO  ....  189,  208,  379,  447 
PLINY  (THE  ELDER)  ....  486 
PLINY  (THE  YOUNGER)  .  143,  145 

PLUNKET,  LORD 448 

POLIGNAC,  ABBE  DE  .  .  .  .  343 
POMPADOUR,  MME.  DE  .  .  .  449 
POMPEY  THE  GREAT  .  .  .66,  531 

PONIATOWSKI 424 

POPE,  A 75,  450,  488,  499 

POPHAM,  SPEAKER      ....    521 

PORSON,  DR 220,  452 

PORUS 453 

POWELL,  SIR  J 86 

PREFELN,  G.  DE 388 

PULCHER,  CLAUDIUS   ....    106 

PYM,  JOHN 453 

PYRRHUS 106, 454 

PYTHAGORAS 454 

PYTHEAS 17 

RABELAIS 28,  277 

RALEIGH,  SIR  W 455 

RAMEAU 368 

RATCLIFFE,  SIR  E 455 

REYNOLDS,  SIR  J.  .    .    .      312, 456 

RICASOLI 418 

RICHARD  1 275,457 

RICHELIEU,  CARDINAL    .    .    .    458 


PAGE 

RIVAROL  .  .  217,  234,  259,  390,  460 
ROBESPIERRE  .  217,  244,  462,  496 
ROBINSON,  SPEAKER  ....  559 
ROCHE,  SIR  B.  .  .  .  44, 290, 463 
ROCHESTER,  EARL  OF  ...  287 

ROE,  SIR  THOMAS 426 

ROGERS,  SAMUEL,  73,  81,  220,  361, 

414,  464,  492,  499. 

ROHAN,  CHEVALIER  DE  .  .  .  544 
ROLAND,  MME.  ...  32,  110,  466 

ROLAND,  M 4C8 

ROUHER 468 

ROUSSEAU,  J.  J.  .  .  210,  265,  468 
ROYER-COLLARD  ....  52,  469 

RUDOLF  1 470 

RUMBOLD,  R 521 

RUSSELL,  EARL 47,  471 

ST.  BERNARD 51,  69 

ST.  REMI 152 

SABLIERE,  MME.  DE   .    .    .    .    322 

SAINT-ANDRE,  J.-B 495 

SAINTE-BEUVE 472 

SAINT-JUST      ....  173,  180,  473 

SAINT-SIMON 474 

SALES,  ST.  F.  DE 211 

SALVANDY,  COMTE  DE    .    .    .    123 

SAXE,  MARSHAL 474 

SAXE-WEIMAR,  B.  VON  .      200,  535 

SCARRON 475 

SCHILLER 400 

SCHLEIERMACHER 476 

SCHWENDI,  L.  VON  .  .  .  145, 173 
SCIPIO  AFRICANUS  .  .  90,  392,  476 

SCOPAS 19 

SCOTT,  SIR  W.  .  .  .  66,  116, 477 
SEBASTIANI,  MARSHAL  .  .  .  477 
SELDEN,  JOHN,  209, 224, 299, 431,  478 
SELWYN,  GEORGE  ....  85,  482 
SENECA  .  .  .  131,  191,  384,  476,  483 
SEVERUS,  SEPTIMIUS  ....  384 
SEVIGNE,  MME.  DE  .  .  400, 485 

SEWARD,  W.  H 489 

SHAFTESBURY,  LORD  ....    114 


AUTHORS   OF  SAYINGS. 


xv 


PAGE 

SHERBROOKE,  LORD   ....      46 
SHERIDAN,  R.  B.    .  39,  445,  489,  544 

SIDNEY,  A 385,  492 

SIDNEY,  SIR  PHILIP   ....    493 

SIEYES 387,487,494 

SIGISMUND,  EMPEROR     .    .    .    231 

SIMON,  JULES 418 

SIMONIDES 487 

SIXTUS  V 498 

SMITH,  JAMES 498 

SMITH,  SYDNEY,  73,  206,  295,  298, 

300,  327,  364,  499,  564. 

SOANEN,  BISHOP 505 

SOBIESKI 93 

SOCRATES,  51, 159,  210,  254,  379,  433, 

488,  506,  526. 

SOLON 27,384,507 

SOPHIA  CHARLOTTE    .    .    .    .    396 

SOPHOCLES 509 

SOULT,  MARSHAL 564 

SOUTHEY,  R 157 

STAEL,  MME.  DE,  12, 141, 406, 510, 523 

STAIR,  LORD 345 

STARK,  GEN 513 

SULLA 60, 89 

SULLY,  Due  DE  .    .    .     .      277,  279 

SUMNER,  C 333,  489 

Suw  ARROW 93,  387 

SWIFT,  DEAN      c    .    .    .      135, 513 
SYMONDS,  REV.  S 479 

TALLEYRAND,  7,  15,  101,  125,  191, 
201,  202,  203,  217,  327,  332,  381, 
382,  389,  390,  400,  461,  465,  478, 
492,  512,  516,  526,  527,  545,  562. 

TANEY,  R.  B 370 

TATNALL,  J 523 

TAYLOR,  GEN 180 

TESSE,  MME.  DE 513 

THALES 138,  360,  507 

THEANO 337,  547 

THEMISTOCLES    .    .    .  103, 465, 524 

THEODORA 200 

THIERS  .    .    11,39,57,243,244,525 


PAGE 

THURLOW,  LORD   .     .     154,  530,  568 

TIBERIUS 98, 450,  531 

TIGRANES 358 

TILLOTSON,  ARCHBISHOP    .    .      58 

TILLY 409 

TIMON 6,  254 

TlMOTHEUS 533 

TITUS 533 

TOOKE,  II 5:34 

TOWNSHEND,  C 534 

TOWNSHEND,  MARQUIS  .  .  .  535 
TRIVULCE,  MARSHAL  ....  173 

TRUDAINE 129 

TURGOT  ....  218,  228,  431,  501 
TURENNE .  93, 535 

VANE,  SIR  H. 349 

VAUGELAS 254 

VERGNIAUD     ....  162,  441,  535 

VERNET,  J 457 

VERTOT,  ABBE 537 

VESPASIAN 355,  537 

VICTOR  EMMANUEL  II.,  90,  315,  365, 

417,  538,  559. 
VILLARS,  MARSHAL    ....    540 

VILLARS,  MME 542 

VILLEROI,  MARSHAL  ....  343 
VIRCHOW,  PROFESSOR  ...  61 
VITELLIUS 543 

VlVONNE,   DUG  DE 343 

VOLTAIRE,  10,  58,  66,  75,  181,  205, 

210,  213,  232,  248,  269,  276,  297, 

353,  357,  380,  386,  390,  395,  426, 

447,  469,  470,  485,  486,  497,  540, 
543. 

WALLENSTEIN 541 

WALLER,  E 85,  555 

WALPOLE,  H.  .  114,  433,  487,  556 
WALPOLE,  SIR  R.  .  .  .  274,  557 
WARBURTON,  BISHOP  .  .  .  558 
WASHINGTON,  GEORGE  .  539,  559 
WEBSTER,  DANIEL,  1,  149,  260,  425, 
439,  454,  562. 


XVI 


AUTHORS  OF  SAYINGS. 


PAGE 

WELLINGTON,  DUKE  OF,  391,  447, 
471,  564. 

WETHERELL,  SIR  C 567 

WHATELY,  ARCHBISHOP     .    .    567 

WlLBERFORCE,   WlLLIAM     .      .      447 

WILKES,  JOHN  .     389,  390,  568,  574 

WILKINS,  BISHOP 543 

WILKINS,  SERJEANT  ....    297 

WILLIAM  1 94,  569 

WILLIAM  III 167,  570 

WILLIAM  IV 571 

WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE     .    .    .    571 
WINDHAM,  WILLIAM,    220,  364,  445 

WlNKELRIED,   A.   VON      .      .      .     536 


WlNTHROP,   R.    C, 

WOLCOTT,  DR.    .'. 
WOLFE,  GEN  .    .  J| 
WOLSEY, 
WORDSWORTH, 
WOTTON,  SIR  H. 


.     .  J    .    .    57 

IIC  VON  .  22 


PAGE 

.  .  179 
.  .  26 
.  .  334 

.  .  572 
.  78,573 
573 
230 


WURTEMBERG,  ULRIC 

XERXES  THE  GREAT  ....  574 

YOUNG,  DR.  E 447 

ZAMOYSKI,  JAN 525 

ZANGIACOMI 495 

ZEUXIS  575 


\ 


SHOET  SAYINGS  OP  GEEAT  MEN, 


JOHN  ADAMS. 

[One  of  the  most  prominent  advocates  of  the  American  War  of 
Independence  ;  born  in  Braintree,  Mass.,  Oct.  19,  1735  ;  graduated 
from  Harvard  College  ;  member  of  the  first  Continental  Congress, 
of  the  committee  to  prepare  the  Declaration  of  Independence  ;  Com- 
missioner to  France,  1777  ;  Commissioner  to  England,  1782,  and  Min- 
ister, 1785  ;  Vice-president,  1789-1797  ;  President  of  the  United  States, 
1797-1801 ;  died  July  4, 1826.] 


Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die. 

In  a  eulogy  upon  Adams  and  Jefferson,  Aug.  2,  1826,  Daniel 
Webster  introduced  a  speech,  supposed  to  have  been  made  by 
Mr.  Adams  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, with  the  words,  "  Sink  or  swim,  live  or  die,  survive  or 
perish,  I  give  my  heart  and  my  hand  to  this  vote."  The  expres- 
sion was  derived  from  the  record  of  a  conversation  between  Mr. 
Adams  and  Jonathan  Sewall  in  1774  :  "  I  answered  that  the  die 
was  now  cast;  I  had  passed  the  Rubicon.  Sink  or  swim,  live 
or  die,  survive  or  perish  with  my  country,  was  my  unalterable 
determination ! "  Mr.  Webster's  imaginary  speech  closed  with 
the  words,  "  Independence  now,  and  independence  forever ! " 
Being  roused  by  the  discharge  of  cannon  011  the  morning  of  the 
last  day  of  his  life,  President  Adams  asked  the  cause  ;  when  told' 
that  it  was  Independence  Day,  he  murmured,  "Independence 
forever  ! "  He  had  on  the  30th  of  June  given  those  words  in 
answer  to  a  request  for  a  toast  to  be  offered  in  his  name  on  the 
following  4th  of  July.  He  was  asked  if  he  would  add  nothing 
vto  it :  "  Not  one  word,"  was  his  reply.  —  Life  of  John  Adams,  by 

J.  Q.  ADAMS. 

1 


JOSEPH  ADDISON. 


In  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Adams,  July  3,  1776,  Mr.  Adams  spoke  of 
the  passage  of  the  resolution  on  the  previous  day  in  favor  of 
American  Independence,  the  Declaration  itself  not  being  agreed 
to  until  the  4th.  <;  The  second  day  of  July,  1776,  will  be  the 
most  memorable  epocha  in  the  history  of  America.  I  am  apt 
to  believe  that  it  will  be  celebrated  by  succeeding  generations 
as  the  great  anniversary  festival." 

The  last  words  of  President  Adams  were,  "  Thomas  Jefferson 
still  survives."  His  successor  in  the  presidential  office  had 
already  died  on  the  morning  of  that  day.  The  last  words  of 

t,  v 

John  Quincy  Adams,  sixth  President  of  the  United  States,  who 
was  struck  with  paralysis  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  Feb. 
21,  1S48,  were,  "  This  is  the  last  of  earth !  I  am  content." 

JOSEPH  ADDISOX. 

[An  English  poet  and  essayist,  born  in  Wiltshire,  May  1,  1672; 
educated  at  Oxford;  under-secretary  of  state,  1705;  entered  Parlia- 
ment, 1708;  commenced  writing  for  the  "  Tatler,"  1709,  and  "  Spec- 
tator," 1711;  chief  secretary  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland, 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  1715;  married  the  dowager-countess 
of  "Warwick,  1716;  one  of  the  principal  secretaries  of  state,  1717;  died 
June  17,  1719,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.] 

I  have  sent  for  you  that  you  may  see  how  a  Christian 
can  die. 

Shortly  before  his  death,  to  his  step-son,  Lord  "Warwick,  who 
was  a  young  man  of  irregular  life.  "  What  effect  this  interview 
had,"  says  Johnson,  "I  know  not:  he  likewise  died  himself  in 
a  short  time."  —  Life. 

"  There  taught  us  how  to  live;  and  (oh!  too  high 
.   The  price  for  knowledge)  taught  us  how  to  die." 

TICKELL:  On  the  Death  of  Addison. 

Marshal  Xey  exclaimed  to  the  handful  of  men  with  whom  he 
dashed  upon  the  enemy  at  the  close  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo, 
"  Come  and  see  how  a  marshal  of  France  can  die  ! '  (  Vencz  voir 
comment  meurt  un  martclial  de  France  /) 

Once  when  a  lady  complained  to  Addison  that  he  took  but 
little  part  in  conversation,  he  replied,  "  Madam,  I  have  but  nine- 


AGESILAUS   II. 


pence  in  ready  money,  but  I  can  draw  for  a  thousand  pounds." 
—  BOSWELL'S  Johnson,  1773.  Lady  Mary  Montague,  however, 
declared  him  to  be  "  the  best  company  in  the  world  ;  "  but  Pope's 
testimony  confines  the  "  Spectator's  "  agreeability  to  his  friends  : 
before  strangers  he  maintained  a  stiff  silence. 


Js> 


AGESILAUS  II. 

[One  of  -the  most  distinguished  of  the  Spartan  kings,  ascended 
the  throne  398  B.C.;  commanded  an  expedition  to  Persia,  but  was 
called  home  about  394;  saved  Sparta  when  threatened  by  Epammon- 
das,  3G2;  died  about  301.] 

I  have  heard  the  nightingale  herself. 

When  told  of  a  man  who  imitated  the  nightingale  to  perfec- 
tion. —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

Being  asked  which  was  the  better  virtue,  valor  or  justice,  he 
replied,  "  Unsupported  by  justice,  valor  is  good  for  nothing;  and 
if  all  men  were  just,  there  would  be  no  need  of  valor."  —  Ibid. 

When  the  physician  Menecrates,  who,  from  his  cure  of  desper- 
ate cases,  was  called  Jupiter,  addressed  him  a  letter,  "Menecrates 
Jupiter  to  King  Agesilaus,  health,"  the  Spartan  returned  a  laconic 
answer:  "King  Agesilaus  to  Menecrates,  his  senses."  -Ibid. 

Upon  his  arrival  in  Egypt,  where  he  had  taken  a  command 
under  Tachos,  his  small  stature  and  mean  attire  made  the  Egyp- 
tians declare  the  fable  to  be  true  that  "  the  mountain  had  brought 

O 

forth  a  mouse ;  "  to  which  the  king  replied,  "  They  will  find  me 
a  lion  by  and  by."  —  ATHEX/EUS,  quoted  by  PLUTARCH:  Life. 

Observing  that  a  certain  malefactor  bore  torture  with  remark- 
able firmness,  he  said,  "  What  a  great  rogue  he  must  be,  whose 
courage  and  constancy  are  bestowed  on  crime  alone  !  " 

When  asked  what  boys  should  learn,  he  replied,  "  That  which 
they  will  use  when  men."  -  -PLUTARCH  :  Laconic  Apothegms. 

From  this  course  of  life,  we  reap  liberty. 

To  one  who  wondered  at  the  poor  attire  and  fare  of  the  Spar- 
tans. When  asked  why  they  wore  their  hair  long,  he  replied, 
"Because  of  all  personal  ornaments  it  costs  the  least."  Having 
kept  at  a  distance  the  enemies  of  Sparta,  lie  could  say,  "Xo 
Spartan  woman  has  ever  seen  the  smoke  of  the  enemy's  camp." 


AGESILAUS  II. 


He  showed  the  citizens  in  arms  to  one  who  asked  why  Sparta 
had  no  walls,  with  the  words,  "These  are  the  walls  of  Sparta." 
He  used  to  say  that  "  cities  should  be  walled  with  the  courage 
of  the  inhabitants."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life.  When  asked  where  the 
boundaries  of  Sparta  were,  he  replied,  "  On  the  points  of  our 
spears." 

Being  shown  a  well-walled  city,  and  asked  if  it  were  not  a 
fine  thing;  " For  women,"  he  answered,  "not  men,  to  live  in." 
Thus  Agis  II.,  observing  the  high  and  strong  walls  of  Corinth, 
asked,  "  What  women  live  there  ?  "  —  Laconic  Apothegms. 

When  asked  what  good  the  laws  of  Lycurgus  had  brought  to 
Sparta,  he  replied,  "  Contempt  of  pleasure; "  and  in  answer  to  the 
question  how  he  acquired  his  great  reputation  for  bravery,  "  By 
contemning  death."  Agis  II.  made  the  same  answer  when  asked 
how  a  man  could  be  always  free. 

Youth,  thy  words  need  an  army. 

To  a  Megarian  talking  boastfully  of  his  city.  Also  told  of 
Lysander.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life.  When  a  well-contrived  but  diffi- 
cult plan  to  free  Greece  was  proposed  to  Agis  II.,  he  replied, 
"Friend,  thy  words  need  an  army  and  a  treasure." — Laconic 
Apotlteym*.  Shakespeare  says,  "The  phrase  would  be  more  ger- 
man  to  the  matter,  if  we  could  carry  a  cannon  by  our  sides."  — 
Hamlet,  V.  2. 

Accepting  an  inferior  seat  at  a  public  dancing,  Agesilaus 
said,  "It  is  not  the  places  which  grace  men,  but  men  the  places." 
He  thought  with  Rob  Roy,  "  Where  Macgregor  sits,  there  is  the 
head  of  the  table." 

To  one  commending  the  skill  of  a  certain  orator  in  magnify- 
ing petty  matters,  the  king  replied,  "  I  do  not  think  that  shoe- 
maker a  good  workman  who  makes  a  great  shoe  for  a  little 
foot." 

On  his  death-jbed,  charging  his  friends  that  no  fiction  or 
counterfeit  (so  he  called  statues)  should  be  made  of  him,  Agesi- 
laus said,  "If  I  have  done  any  honorable  exploit,  that  is  my 
monument ;  but  if  I  have  done  none,  all  your  statues  will  signify 
nothing." 

Epaminondas  declared  on  his  death-bed  that  his  victories  of 


AGIS    II. 


"  Leuctra  and  Man  tinea  are  daughters  enough  to  keep  my  name 
alive." 

Alexander  I.,  of  Russia,  declined  a  monument  to  commemo- 
rate his  military  exploits,  with  the  words,  "May  a  monument  be 
erected  to  me  in  your  hearts,  as  it  is  to  you  in  mine ;  "  an  echo 
of  the  sentiment  of  the  Czar  Peter  III.  (1728-1702),  refusing  a 
golden  statue,  "  If  by  good  government  I  could  raise  a  memorial 
in  my  people's  hearts,  that  would  be  the  statue  for  me." 

"  They  offer  me  a  statue,"  said  Bonaparte,  when  First  Con- 
sul, "but  I  must  look  at  the  pedestal:  they  may  make  it  a 
prison." 

AGIS  II. 

[King  of  Sparta,  427  B.C.;  defeated  the  Athenians  and  their  allies 
at  Mautinea,  about  414;  died  399.] 

The  Spartans  do  not  inquire  how  many  the  enemy  are, 
but  where  they  are. 

PLUTARCH  :  Laconic  Apothegms.  Being  asked  what  was  chiefly 
learned  at  Sparta,  he  replied,  "  To  know  how  to  govern,  and  to 
be  governed."  —  Ibid. 

He  said  to  an  orator  who  asserted  that  speech  was  the  best 
thing,  "You,  then,  when  you  are  silent,  are  worth  nothing."  — 
Ibid. 

Agis  IV.,  called  by  Plutarch  "the  younger,"  king  of  Sparta 
244—210  B.C.,  replied  to  the  jeer  of  an  Athenian  at  the  Lace- 
daemonian short-swords,  "  The  jugglers  would  easily  swallow 
them,"  by  saying,  "  And  yet  we  can  reach  our  enemies'  hearts 
with  them."  —  Apothegms  of  Kings  and  Great  Commanders. 

ALCIBIADES. 

[Born  in  Athens  450  B.C.;  of  remarkable  personal  beauty,  and 
powerful  and  versatile  intellect,  but  fickle  and  licentious;  was  the 
ward  of  Pericles  and  the  favorite  pupil  of  Socrates;  accused  of 
sacrilege,  and  condemned  in  his  absence,  he  joined  the  Sicilians 
against  his  countrymen,  413;  recalled  411,  gained  several  victories, 
but  was  finally  defeated  and  superseded;  withdrawing  into  Asia 
from  the  Thirty  Tyrants,  he  was  attacked  by  night,  and  killed,  404. J 


6  JEAN  D'ALEMBERT. 

I  would  have  the  Athenians  talk   of  this,  lest  they 
should  find  something  worse  to  say  of  me. 

"\Vhen  told  that  all  Athens  rung  with  the  story  of  his  treat- 
ment of  a  dog  of  uncommon  size  and  beauty,  the  tail  of  \vhich 
he  caused  to  be  cut  off.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

Happening  to  go  into  a  grammar-school,  he  asked  the  master 
for  a  volume  of  Homer;  and,  upon  his  making  answer  that  he 
had  nothing  of  Homer's,  gave  him  a  box  on  the  ear,  and  left 
him.  Another  schoolmaster  telling  him  that  he  had  Homer 
corrected  by  himself,  "  How  !  "  said  Alcibiades,  "  do  you  employ 
your  time  in  teaching  children  to  read  ?  You,  who  are  able  to 
correct  Homer,  might  seem  to  be  fit  to  instruct  men."  —  Ibid. 

Calling  at  the  house  of  Pericles,  and  being  told  that  he  was 
considering  how  to  give  in  his  accounts  to  the  people,  and  was 
therefore  not  at  leisure,  Alcibiades  remarked,  "  He  had  better 
consider  how  to  avoid  giving  in  any  account  at  all."  —  Hid. 

His  answer,  when  summoned  out  of  Sicily  by  the  Athenians 
to  plead  for  his  life,  was,  "  A  criminal  is  a  fool  who  studies  a 
defence  when  he  might  fly  for  it."  —  Apothegms. 

The  misanthropic  Timon  rejoiced  at  a  later  period  to  see  Alci- 
biades carried  in  honor  from  the  place  of  assembly,  and  said, 
"  Go  on,  my  brave  boy,  and  prosper ;  for  your  prosperity  will 
cause  the  ruin  of  all  this  crowd."  —  Life  of  Alcibiades. 

JEAN  D'ALEMBEET. 

[An  eminent  French  geometer  and  philosopher,  born  at  Paris, 
Nov.  16, 1717;  elected  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  1741;  to  the  French 
Academy  1754,  of  which  he  became  secretary  1772;  joint  editor  with 
Diderot  of  the  Encyclopaedia,  and  the  friend  of  Voltaire;  died  Oct. 
29, 1783.] 

A  philosopher  is  a  fool  who  torments  himself  while  he 
is  alive,  to  be  talked  of  after  he  is  dead. 

He  declined  in  1762  an  urgent  invitation  from  Catherine  II., 
of  Russia,  to  undertake  at  St.  Petersburg  the  education  of  her 
son,  at  a  salary  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs,  with  the  words, 
"•  What  I  have  learned  from  books  is  a  little  science  and  satis- 
faction, but  not  the  harder  art  of  fashioning  princes." 


ALEXANDER  THE   GREAT.  7 

He  said  of  the  French  philosophers,  "  They  believe  themselves 
profound,  while  they  are  only  hollow"  (77s  se  croient  prof o  nth,  <  t 
ne  sont  que  creux).  Talleyrand  said  of  Sieyes  and  his  political 
day-dreams,  in  answer  to  some  one  who  called  him  profound, 
"Perhaps  you  mean  hollow'  (Pro/one?,  hem!  vous  voulez  dire, 
peut-ttre,  creux).  Victor  Hugo  appropriated  the  remark  by 
saying,  "  Sieyes,  homme  profond,  qui  e'tait  devenu  creux."  —  Quatre- 
Vinyt-Treize,  I.  3,  5. 

Go  on,  and  the  light  will  come  to  you. 

ALEXANDER   THE   GHEAT. 

[Son  of  Philip  of  Macedon,  "born  356  B.C.;  ascended  the  throne,  330; 
took  Thebes  by  assault,  335;  crossed  the  Hellespont,  334;  defeated  the 
Persians  at  the  Granicus,  took  Halicarnassus,  marched  through  Asia 
Minor,  defeated  Darius  at  Issus,  333;  took  possession  of  Phoenicia  and 
Egypt;  marching  again  against  Darius,  defeated  a  million  Persians 
at  Arbela;  conquered  Media  and  the  northern  and  central  provinces 
of  Asia;  crossed  the  Indus,  327,  and  defeated  Porus;  on  his  return 
died  of  fever  at  Babylon,  323.] 

My  father  will  leave  me  nothing  to  do. 

Hearing  when  a  boy  of  Philip's  military  successes.  —  PLU- 
TARCH: Apothegms. 

When  his  father  had  been  run  through  the  thigh,  and  was 
troubled  by  his  lameness,  Alexander  encouraged  him  by  saying, 
"  Be  of  good  cheer,  father ;  and  show  yourself  in  public,  that  you 
may  be  reminded  of  your  bravery  at  every  step."  —  Fortune  of 
Alexander  the  Great. 

His  father  encouraged  him,  being  nimble  and  light-footed,  to 
run  in  the  races  at  the  Olympic  games :  he  promised  to,  "  if 
there  are  any  kings  there  to  run  with  me ;  for  I  can  conquer 
only  private  men,  while  they  may  conquer  a  king."  -  Apothegm*. 

When  Philip  asked  him  what  forfeit  he  would  pay  if  he  could 
not  ride  Bucephalus,  he  replied,  "  I  will  pay  the  price  of  the 
horse."  The  price  asked  by  his  owner,  a  Thessalian,  was  thir- 
teen talents  (£2518),  or,  as  Pliny  says,  sixteen  talents.  After 
Alexander  had  turned  the  horse  to  the  sun  so  as  to  remove  the 
shadow  which  had  frightened  him,  and,  gently  stroking  him, 


8  ALEXANDER  THE   GREAT. 

leaped  upon  his  back,  pushed  him  to  a  full  gallop,  and  re- 
turned safely,  Philip  cried,  "  Seek  another  kingdom,  my  son, 
that  may  be  worthy  of  thy  abilities ;  for  Macedonia  is  too  small 
for  thee."  —  Life. 

When  Philip  stumbled  from  the  effect  of  passion  and  wine, 
at  the  festival  of  his  second  marriage,  Alexander  exclaimed, 
"Men  of  Macedon,  what  a  fine  hero  the  states  of  Greece  have 
to  lead  their  armies  from  Europe  to  Asia !  he  is  not  able  to  pass 
from  one  table  to  another  without  falling  !  "  —  Ibid. 

Were  I  not  Alexander,  I  would  be  Diogenes. 

Because  when  he  came  to  converse  with  the  cynic  philosopher 
at  Corinth,  he  was  so  struck  with  his  life  and  learning  that  he 
said,  "  Had  I  not  been  a  philosopher  in  deeds,  I  would  have  de- 
voted myself  to  the  study  of  words."  PLUTARCH:  Fortune  of 
.  Alexander  the  Great.  It  was  at  this  interview  that  Alexander, 
asking  Diogenes  what  he  could  do  for  him,  was  told,  "Only  stand 
a  little  out  of  my  sunshine."  Xapoleon,  speaking  in  1814  of  the 
Macedonian's  Russian  namesake,  said,  "  If  I  were  not  Xapoleon, 
I  would  be  Alexander." 

When  he  divided  his  revenues  among  his  friends,  wThile  pre- 
paring his  Asian  campaign,  and  Perdiccas  asked  him  what  he 
retained  for  himself,  he  answered,  "Hope."  —  "If  hope  is  suffi- 
cient for  Alexander,"  replied  his  general,  "it  is  sufficient  for 
Perdiccas." 

f*F^*** 

At  the  tomb  of  Achilles,  Meander  exclaimed,  "  O  fortunate 
youth,  who  found  a  Homer  to  proclaij^thy  valor! "  wrhich  Cicero 
quotes  in  the  oration  for  the  poi.-t.  Arc-bias :  "  0  fortunate  adoles- 
cens,  qui  tuce  virtutis  Homerum  prcecoi^Jinveneris  ! "  When  asked 
at  Ilium  if  he  would  like  to  see  the  lyre  of  Paris,  he  replied, 
"I  would  rather  see  the  lyre  of  Achilles,"  preferring  that  to 
which  the  warrior  had  sung  the  glorious  actions  of  the  brave. 
—  Life. 

He  always  travelled  with  a  copy  of  the  Iliad,  which  he  called 
a  portable  treasure  of  military  knowledge;  and  after  the  defeat 
of  Darius  he  put  it  into  a  rich  casket  found  among  the  spoil  of 
the  Persian  camp,  saying,  "  Darius  used  to  keep  his  ointments 
in  it ;  but  I,  wTho  have  no  time  to  anoint  myself,  will  convert 
it  to  a  nobler  use."  —  Ibid. 


ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT. 


So  would  I,  if  I  were  Parmenio. 

To  Parmenio,  who  said  that  if  he  were  Alexander,  he  would 
accept  the  offer  of  Darius  to  pay  him  ten  thousand  talents,  to 
cede  to  him  all  the  countries  west  of  the  Euphrates,  and  to  give 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life.  Thus  when 
Lysander  was  offered  a  bribe  of  fifty  talents,  and  Oleander  said 
he  would  take  it,  were  he  Lysander ;  "  So  would  I,"  replied  the 
latter,  "were  I  Oleander." 

Alexander  declined  the  proposition  of  Darius,  saying,  "  Heav- 
en cannot  support  two  suns,  nor  earth  two  masters ;  "  or,  as  Plu- 
tarch has  it  in  his  "Apothegms,"  "nor  Asia  two  kings."  Thus 
it  was  said  by  Eteocles,  of  Lysander,  who  allowed  himself  to 
be  influenced  by  the  resentments  of  his  friends,  "  Greece  cannot 
bear  two  Lysanders."  —  Ibid.  When  the  conduct  of  Alcibiades 
was  considered  an  insult  to  the  laws  of  Athens,  Archestratus 
observed,  "Greece  cannot  bear  another  Alcibiades."  —  Life  of 
Alcibiades.  Peter  the  Great  exclaimed  after  a  severe  defeat  by 
Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  at  Narva,  1700,  "  My  brother  Charles 
affects  to  play  the  Alexander,  but  he  shall  not  find  in  me  a 
Darius." 

Being  advised  by  Parmenio  not  to  cross  the  Granicus,  of  the 
depth  of  which  they  were  ignorant,  so  late  in  the  day,  Alexan- 
der said,  "  The  Hellespont  would  blush,  if,  after  having  passed 
it,  I  should  be  afraid  of  the  Granicus."  He  refused  to  attack 
Darius  at  Arbela  in  the  nigMfeaying,  "  I  will  not  steal  a  vic- 
tory."—  Life.  _ 

A  wound  which  he  received  in  the  ankle  gave  him  an  oppor- 
tunity of   rebuking  iuose  Tvho  were  wont  to  call  him  a  god. 
"  That  is  blood,  as  you  see,  and  not,  as  Homer  saith, 

'  Such  humor  as  distils  from  blessed  gods.'  "  —  Iliad,  V.  340. 

PLUTARCH:  Apothegms. 

When  the  mother  of  Darius  threw  herself  at  Hephaistion's 
feet,  thinking  him  to  be  Alexander  from  his  superior  height  and 
more  magnificent  dress,  the  king;  raised  her,  saying,  "  You  have 
not  deceived  yourself,  my  mother :  he  also  is  Alexander !  "  An- 
tipater  wrote  the  king  a  letter  full  of  complaints  against  the 


10  ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT. 

latter's  mother,  who  was  not  allowed  to  interfere  as  she  would 
have  liked  in  state  affairs :  his  reply  was,  "  Antipater  knows  not 
that  one  tear  of  a  mother  can  blot  out  a  thousand  such  com- 
plaints." 

Craterus  is  the  friend  of  the  king,  but  Hephaistion  is 
the  friend  of  Alexander. 

Appearing  to  respect  Craterus,  but  to  love  Hephaistion.  The 
former  was  a  distinguished  general,  who,  on  the  death  of 
Alexander,  received  the  government  of  Macedonia  and  Greece 
in  common  with  Antipater.  Hephaistion  was  brought  up 
with  Alexander :  he  died  at  Ecbatana,  after  an  illness  of 
seven  days,  325  B.C.,  and  was  mourned  extravagantly  by  the 

king. 

AVhen  his  friends  became  so  devoted  to  the  luxury  of  Asia 
that  they  considered  long  inarches  and  campaigns  as  a  burden, 
and  by  degrees  spoke  ill  of  him,  Alexander  said  to  them, 
"There  is  something  noble  in  hearing  myself  ill  spoken  of,  when 
I  am  doing  well  ; "  or,  as  it  is  given  in  the  "  Apothegms,"  "  To  do 
good,  and  be  evil  spoken  of,  is  kingly,"  which  Carlyle  saw  writ- 
ten in  Latin  on  the  towrn-hall  of  Zittau,  in  Saxony,  —  Bene  facere 
et  male  audire  regiitm  est. — Frederick  the  Great,  XV.  13.  Voltaire 
said,  "  It  is  a  noble  thing  to  make  ingrates." 

AVhen  Antipater  was  commended  for  not  degenerating  into 
Persian  luxury  in  the  use  of  purple,  Alexander  remarked,  "  Out- 
wardly Antipater  wears  wiiite  clothes,  but  within  he  is  all  pur- 
ple." 

Taxiles,  whose  dominions  in  India  were  said  to  be  as  large  as 
Egypt,  asked  Alexander  why  there  should  be  any  conflict  be- 
tween them.  "If,"  he  said,  "I  am  richer  than  you,  I  am  willing 
to  oblige  you  with  part :  if  I  am  poorer,  I  have  no  objection  to 
sharing  your  bounty."  Charmed  with  his  frankness,  Alexander 
took  his  hand,  saying,  "You  are  much  deceived  if  you  expect  to 
escape  without  a  conflict.  I  will  dispute  it  with  you  to  the  last, 
but  it  shall  be  in  favors  and  benefits;  for  I  will  not  have  you 
exceed  me  in  generosity."  He  thereupon  gave  him  a  thousand 
talents.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

Clitus  had  saved  Alexander's  life  at  the  battle  of  the  Granicus, 
but  provoked  the  king's  anger  by  insolent  language  at  a  banquet, 


ALEXANDER  I.  11 


when  both  were  heated  with  wine.  Striking  him  down  with  his 
javelin,  Alexander  exclaimed,  "Go,  then,  and  join  Philip  and 
Parmenio."  lie  was,  however,  on  coming  to  himself,  inconsola- 
ble at  his  friend's  death.  Parmenio  had  been  put  to  death  on 
a  charge,  preferred  by  his  own  son,  of  plotting  against  the  king's 
life. 

He  refused  his  assent  to  a  proposal  to  carve  Mount  Athos  into 
the  figure  of  a  man,  in  imitation  of  the  attempt  of  Xerxes  to 
cut  a  road  through  it ;  saying,  "  Mount  Athos  is  already  the 
monument  of  one  king's  folly :  I  will  not  make  it  that  of  an- 
other." 

To  his  soldiers,  disaffected  after  their  long  campaigns,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Go  home,  and  tell  them  that  you  left  Alexander  to 
conquer  the  world  alone." 

He  said  to  a  young  Macedonian  named  Alexander,  who  was 
about  to  attack,  with  others,  a  fort  at  the  top  of  a  steep  height, 
"  You  must  behave  gallantly,  my  young  friend,  to  do  justice  to 
your  name." 

At  the  passage  of  the  Indus  in  face  of  the  army  of  Porus, 
having  always  in  mind  the  praises  he  envied  of  Athens,  he 
exclaimed,  "  O  Athenians !  how  much  it  costs  to  be  praised  by 
you ! " 

To  the  most  worthy. 

When  asked  to  whom  he  left  his  empire.  Thus  Thiers,  in 
answer  to  the  question  in  1871,  to  whom  supreme  power  should 
be  given  in  France,  replied,  "  To  the  wisest  "  (A u  plus  sage). 

Napoleon  said  of  Alexander,  "  He  commenced  his  career  with 
the  mind  of  Trajan,  but  he  closed  it  with  the  heart  of  Nero  and 
the  morals  of  Heliogabalus." 

ALEXANDER   I. 

[Emperor  of  Russia,  born  1777;  succeeded  his  father,  Paul,  1801; 
joined  Austria  against  Napoleon,  1804,  and  took  part  in  the  coali- 
tions until  his  overthrow;  entered  Paris  with  the  allied  armies,  July, 
1815;  formed  the  holy  alliance  with  the  sovereigns  of  Austria  and 
Prussia;  died  at  Taganrog,  Dec.  1,  1825.] 


12  ALFONSO  X. 


I  am,  then,  only  a  happy  accident. 

In  conversing  with  Madame  de  Stael,  in  Paris,  upon  the  form 
of  government  to  take  the  place  of  the  empire,  she  said  to  him 
with  characteristic  enthusiasm,  "  Sire,  your  character  is  a  con- 
stitution ! '  His  reply  referred  to  the  temporary  and  accidental 
expedients,  which,  from  the  time  of  Sieyes,  the  French  had  dig- 
nified with  the  name  of  constitutions.  Napoleon's  opinion  of 
the  czar  wTas  less  flattering  than  Madame  de  Stael's.  He  said 
to  O'Meara  at  St.  Helena,  Dec.  5,  1816,  "  He  is  an  extremely 
hypocritical  man  ;  a  Greek  of  the  lower  empire  "  (C'est  un  Iwmme 
extremement  faux ;  un  Grec  du  bas  empire).  What  more  could  he 
have  said  if  he  had  foreseen  that  the  liberal  emperor  was  to  form 
an  alliance  wdth  two  despotic  sovereigns  wliich  should  be  for 
thirty  years  the  bulwark  of  reactionary  ideas  ? 

Disraeli  said  of  Lord  Palmerston,  "  He  has  the  smartness  of 
an  attorney's  clerk,  and  the  intrigues  of  a  Greek  of  the  lower 
empire."  —  Runmjmede  Letters,  1836. 

After  Napoleon's  retreat  from  Moscow,  in  1812,  the  Russian 
and  Prussian  sovereigns  met  in  Breslau,  where  Frederick  Wil- 
liam III.  was  moved  to  tears  in  speaking  of  the  losses  his  king- 
dom had  suffered  by  being  obliged  to  furnish  a  contingent  to 
the  French  expedition.  "  Courage,  brother,"  said  Alexander  to 
him:  "these  are  the  last  tears  Napoleon  shall  draw  from  you." 
The  next  year  saw  the  opening  of  the  "War  of  Liberation." 

The  Dardanelles  are  the  key  of  my  house.    Let  me  get 
possession  of  them,  and  my  power  is  irresistible. 

Thus  Napoleon  said,  "  Constantinople  is  an  empire  in  itself ;  " 
and  Francis  I.  of  France  declared  that  if  he  became  emperor 
of  Germany,  he  would  be  in  Constantinople  in  three  years,  or 
would  die  upon  the  road. 

ALFONSO   X. 

[King  of  Leon  and  Castile,  surnamed  "The  "Wise;"  born  1226; 
succeeded  to  the  throne,  1252;  bore  a  high  reputation  for  learning  and 
eloquence,  and  was  distinguished  for  his  patronage  of  science  and 
literature;  gave  Europe  the  Alphonsine  astronomical  tables;  died 
1284.] 


DUKE  OF  ALYA.  13 


Had  I  been  present  at  the  creation,  I  could  have 
given  some  useful  hints  for  the  better  ordering  of  the 
universe. 

Directed  against  the  conceit  of  the  court  astronomers.  With- 
out that  explanation,  the  remark  has  subjected  Alfonso  to  the 
same  charge. 

Carlyle  refers  the  saying  to  the  Ptolemaic  system,  likewise  in 
sarcasm,  "  It  was  a  pity  the  Creator  had  not  taken  advice !  ' 
Frederick  the  Great,  II.  7.  He  finds  no  other  utterance  of  the 
Castilian  on  record,  but  the  following  has  been  attributed  to 
him  :  "  To  make  a  good  marriage,  the  husband  should  be  deaf, 
and  the  wife  blind." 

DUKE    OF  ALVA. 

[Fernando  Alvarez  de  Toledo,  a  celebrated  Spanish  general  under 
Charles  V.  and  Philip  II.,  born  1508;  defended  Naples  against  the 
French  and  Papal  armies,  1556-57;  sent  by  Philip  II.  to  quell  the 
insurrection  in  the  Low  Countries,  1507,  where  he  displayed  great 
ability,  but  extreme  rigor  and  cruelty;  recalled  1573;  invaded  Portu- 
gal, and  annexed  it  to  Spain,  1580;  died  1582.] 

Better  build  them  a  golden  bridge  than  offer  a  decisive 
battle. 

To  Charles  V.,'  who  consulted  him  in  regard  to  attacking  the 
Turks ;  an  illustration  of  his  constitutional  dislike  of  fighting 
when  he  could  accomplish  his  purpose  by  strategy.  Thus,  when 
the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  urged  him  to  attack  the  Dutch  there, 
he  replied,  "  The  object  of  a  general  is  not  to  fight,  but  to  con- 
quer:  he  fights  enough  who  obtains  the  victory."  The  expres- 
sion, "to  build  a  bridge  for  an  enemy,"  is  of  frequent  occurrence. 
Rabelais  says,  "  Open  unto  your  enemies  all  your  gates  and  ways, 
and  make  to  them  a  bridge  of  silver,  rather  than  fail  that  you 
may  get  quit  of  them."  —  Gargantua,  Book  I.  chap.  43.  The 
Count  de  Patillan  is  quoted  in  the  French  Divers  Propos  Memo- 
rabies  des  nobles  et  illustres  Homines  de  la  Chrestiente  as  saying  of 
war,  "Make  a  bridge  of  gold  for  a  flying  enemy"  (Quand  ton 
ennemy  voudra  fuir,fais  luy  un  pont  d'or).  Brantome  cites  Louis 
XII.,  that  "one  should  not  spare  a  bridge  of  silver  to  chase  his 
enemy ; "  and  Cervantes  substitutes  silver  for  gold  in  the  remark 
of  the  Count  de  Patillan.  — Don  Quixote,  II.  58. 


14  ST.   AMBROSE. 


AVhen  asked  by  Charles  V.  about  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  during 
the  battle  of  Miihlberg,  1546,  Alva  replied,  "I  had  too  much  to 
do  on  earth  to  trouble  myself  with  the  heavens." 

He  preferred  while  in  the  Low  Countries  to  capture  one  im- 
portant heretic  than  many  insignificant  ones ;  saying,  "  Better  a 
salmon's  head  than  ten  thousand  frogs." 

Having  been  called  by  Philip  II.  to  account  for  treasures  seized 
at  Lisbon,  1581,  Alva  proudly  made  answer,  "If  the  king  asks 
me  for  an  account,  I  will  make  him  a  statement  of  kingdoms 
preserved  or  conquered,  of  signal  victories,  of  successful  sieges, 
and  of  sixty  years'  service." 

Voltaire  states  that  Charles  V  having  asked  who  that  man 
was,  as  Cortez,  unable  to  obtain  an  audience  of  the  emperor  after 
his  second  expedition  to  Mexico,  pushed  through  the  crowd  sur- 
rounding the  royal  carriage,  the  latter  replied,  "  One  who  has 
given  you  more  kingdoms  than  you  had  towns  before."  —  Ewai 
siw  les  Aloeurs,  chap.  147.  Prescott  finds  no  authority  for  what 
he  calls  "  this  most  improbable  story,  which  may  have  served 
Voltaire  to  point  a  moral."  —  Conquest  of  Mexico,  VII.  5,  note. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  of  the  cold  reception  given  to  the 
suit  of  Cortez,  who  found  in  his  old  age  that  "  the  gratitude  of  a 
court  has  reference  to  the  future  much  more  than  to  the  past." 

ST.  AMBROSE. 

[One  of  the  Latin  fathers  of  the  Church;  born  at  Treves  about  340 
A.D.;  governor  of  Liguria,  374;  elected  bishop  of  Milan,  which  office 
he  filled  with  great  ability;  died  397.] 

When  in  Rome,  do  as  the  Romans  do. 

The  advice  St.  Ambrose  gave  St.  Augustine  in  regard  to  con- 
formity to  local  custom.  The  authority  of  the  see  of  Milan 
almost  equalled  that  of  Rome,  and  each  Christian  society  had 
its  particular  rule  for  the  observance  of  rites  and  customs.  "My 
mother,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "having  joined  me  at  Milan,  found 
that  the  church  there  did  not  fast  on  Saturdays,  as  at  Rome, 
and  was  at  a  loss  what  to  do.  I  consulted  St.  Ambrose  of  holy 
memory,  who  replied,  '  When  I  am  at  Rome,  I  fast  on  a  Satur- 
day :  when  I  am  at  Milan  I  do  not.  Do  the  same.  Follow  the 


FISHER   AMES.  15 


custom  of  the  church  where  you  are.' '     -  Epistle  to  Januarius, 
II.  18. 

Burton  derives  a  custom  from  this  advice,  "When  they  are  at 
Rome,  they  do  as  they  see  done."  -Anatomy  of  Melancholy, 
Part  III.,  IV.,  2,  1.  Jeremy  Taylor  gives  it  in  verse  :- 

"  Cum  fueris  Romre,  Romano  vivito  more; 
Cum  fueris  alibi,  vivito  sicut  ibi." 

Dnctor  Diibitantium,  I.  1,  5. 

Professor  Lowell  ("  Among  my  Books  ")  calls  Dante  "  extremely 
practical  in  the  affairs  of  this  life.  He  has  made  up  his  mind 
to  take  things  as  they  come,  and  to  do  at  Rome  as  the  Romans 
do."  He  quotes  this  couplet :  - 

"Ah,  savage  company  !  but  in  the  church 
"With  saints,  and  in  the  taverns  with  the  gluttons  !  " 

Inferno,  XXII.  13. 

Napoleon  said,  "  A  man  who  goes  into  a  country  must  comply 
with  the  ceremonies  in  use  there."  —  O'MEARA  :  Napoleon  in 
Exile,  1817. 

FISHER  AMES. 

[An  American  orator  and  statesman;  born  in  Dedham,  Mass., 
April  9,  1758;  member  of  Congress,  1789-1796;  elected  president  of 
Harvard  College,  but  declined  on  account  of  ill  health;  died  July  4, 
1808.] 

Sober,  second  thought. 

In  a  speech  on  Biennial  Elections,  178S,  Mr.  Ames  said,  "  I 

consider  biennial  elections  as  a  security  that  the  sober,  second 

•  « 

thought  of  the  people  shall  be  law."  Matthew  Henry,  in  his 
"Exposition  of  Job,"  VI.  29,  had  already  spoken  of  "their  own 
second  and  sober  thoughts,"  which  Euripides  pronounced  the 
best  among  mortals.  — PHppolytus,  438.  Cicero,  having  said  that 
any  man  might  err,  quotes  a  proverb  that  "  second  thoughts  are 
apt  to  be  best"  (poste.riores  cogitation es,  itt  aiunt,  sapientiores  solent 
esse).  — First  Philippic.  Talleyrand,  however,  paradoxically  ad- 
vises "  never  to  act  on  first  impulses,  as  they  are  always  right;  " 
which  Robert  Hall  qualifies  by  saying  that  "  in  matters  of  con- 
science first  thoughts  are  best,  in  matters  of  prudence  the  last." 


16  AXAXAGQRAS. 


ANAXAGORAS. 

[A  philosopher  of  the  Ionian  school,  born  500  B.C. ;  came  to  Athens, 
where  he  was  the  friend  of  Pericles,  who  saved  his  life  from  a  charge 
of  impiety;  banished  from  Athens,  he  retired  to  Lampsacus,  where 
he  died  428.] 

Take  it  back :  if  he  wished  to  keep  the  lamp  alive,  he 
should  have  administered  the  oil  before. 

When  Pericles  sent  him  money,  hearing  that  he  was  dying  of 
want.  He  had  left  Athens  with  the  words,  "It  is  not  I  who  lose 
the  Athenians,  but  the  Athenians  me." 

Being  asked  what  should  be  done  to  honor  him  after  death,  he 
replied,  "  Give  the  boys  a  holiday." 

EARL    OF  ANGUS. 

[Archibald  Douglas,  fifth  earl,  sometimes  called  the  "Great  Earl 
of  Angus,"  lord  chancellor  of  Scotland  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century;  a  powerful,  ambitious,  and  lawless  subject;  died  about 
1527.]  * 

Heed  it  not,  I'll  bell  the  cat. 

To  the  Scotch  nobles  in  1482,  who  were  conspiring  against 
Cochran,  Earl  of  Mar,  favorite  of  James  III.  An  allusion  to 
the  fable  of  the  mice  who  wished  to  put  a  bell  on  the  cat's  neck 
to  warn  them  of  her  approach :  the  plan  was  a  good  one,  only 
no  one  was  found  willing  to  bell  the  cat. 


PRINCE    OF  ANHALT-DESSAU. 

[Leopold,  called  the  "  Old  Dessauer,"  composer  of  the  "Dessauer 
March; "  a  general  in  the  Prussian  service,  born  1676;  commanded  the 
Prussian  forces  under  Prince  Eugene  in  Italy  and  Flanders,  1706- 
1712;  accompanied  Frederick  the  Great  in  his  campaigns,  and  gained 
the  victory  of  Kesseldorf,  1745;  died  1747.] 

O  God,   assist  our  side:  at  least,  avoid  assisting  the 
enemy,  and  leave  the  result  to  me. 

His  prayer  on  entering  battle,  "reverently  doffing  his  hat," 
says  Carlyle,  "before  going  in;  prayer  mythically  true;  mythi- 


ANTIGONUS  I.  17 


cally,  not  otherwise."  -Life  of  Frederick  the  Great,  Book  XV. 
chap.  14. 

Somewhat  similar  was  that  of  Lord  Ashley,  a  royalist  general, 
who  had  served  under  Gustavns  Adolphus,  and  commanded  the 
last  remnant  of  the  army  of  Charles  I. :  "  God,  thou  knowest  how 
much  I  have  to  do  to-day :  if  I  forget  thee,  do  not  forget  me." 

The  "  Old  Dessauer  "  called  Luther's  hymn,  Ein'  feste  Burg 
ist  unser  Gott,  "  God  Almighty's  Grenadier  March."  —  Ibid.,  IV.  2. 

ANTIGONUS   I. 

[Surnamed  the  "  one-eyed,"  a  general  of  Alexander  the  Great; 
born  in  Macedon  about  382  B.C.;  obtained  after  Alexander's  death 
Lycia  and  other  provinces ;  made  himself  master  of  a  large  portion 
of  Asia,  but  was  opposed  by  successive  coalitions,  by  the  last  of 
which  he  was  defeated  and  slain  at  Ipsus  in  Phrygia,  301.] 

Thy  words  smell  of  the  apron. 

To  Aristodemus,  supposed  to  be  a  cook's  son,  who  advised 
him  to  moderate  his  gifts  and  expenses.  —  PLUTARCH:  Apothegms. 
So  Pytheas,  the  orator,  said  of  the  orations  of  Demosthenes, 
"They  smell  of  the  lamp,"  alluding  to  the  underground  cave  to 
which  the  orator  retired  for  study,  and  which  was  lighted  by  a 
lamp.  Demosthenes  retorted  sharply,  "Yes,  indeed;  but  your 
lamp  and  mine,  my  friend,  are  not  conscious  of  the  same  labors." 
—  Life  of  Demosthenes. 

When  urged  to  put  a  garrison  into  Athens,  to  keep  the  Greeks 
in  subjection,  Antigonus  replied,  "I  have  not  a  stronger  garri- 
son than  the  affections  of  my  people." 

He  corrected  a  sycophant  who  told  him  that  the  will  of  kings 
was  the  rule  of  justice:  "No:  rather  justice  is  the  rule  of  the 
will  of  kings." 

Coming  up  behind  Antagoras  the  poet,  who  was  boiling  a 
conger-eel,  the  king  asked,  "  Do  you  think,  Antagoras,  that 
Homer  boiled  congers  when  he  wrote  the  deeds  of  Agamem- 
non ?':  To  which  Antagoras  replied,  "Do  you  think,  O  king,, 
that  Agamemnon,  when  he  did  such  exploits,  was  peeping  in 
his  army  to  see  who  boiled  congers  ?  "  —  Apothegms. 

When  Thrasyllus  the  cynic  begged  a  drachm  of  him,  "  That," 


18  AXTIGONUS  II. 


said  Antigonus,  "is  too  little  for  a  king  to  give."  —  "Then  give 
me  a  talent  [6,000  drachms]."  —  "That  is  too  much  for  a  cynic 
[i.  e.,  a  dog]  to  receive."  —  Ibid. 

He  that  teacheth  the  king  of  Macedon  teacheth  all 
his  subjects. 

Like  princes,  like  people  (qualis  rex,  talis  grex). 

ANTIGONUS    II. 

[Antigonus  Gonatus,  son  of  Demetrius  Poliorcetes,  and  grandson 
of  the  preceding  ;  king  of  Macedon,  277  B.C.;  expelled  by  Pyrrhus, 
and  again  on  his  return  by  the  son  of  Pyrrhus,  but  finally  recovered 
his  dominions;  died  239.] 

But  how  many  ships  do  you  reckon  my  presence  to 
be  worth  ? 

To  the  pilot,  before  a  naval  battle  with  the  lieutenants  of 
Ptolemy,  when  told  that  the  enemy's  ships  outnumbered  his 
own.  —  PLUTARCH:  Apothegms.  He  denied,  on  another  occasion, 
that  he  had  fled,  when  he  retreated  before  the  superior  numbers 
of  the  enemy;  but  explained  it  by  the  euphemism,  "I  betook 
myself  to  an  advantage  that  lay  behind  rue." 

APELLES. 

[A  celebrated  Greek  painter,  born  probably  in  Ionia  ;  the  contem- 
porary and  friend  of  Alexander  the  Great,  who  allowed  only  him  to 
paint  his  portrait.  The  time  and  place  of  his  death  are  unknown.] 

.Ne  sutor  supra  [not  ultra]   crepidam. 

In  German,  Schuster,  bleib'  bei  deinem  Leisten. 

Apelles  was  in  the  habit  of  exhibiting  his  pictures  to  the 
passers-by,  while  he  heard  their  comments  without  being  seen. 
One  day  a  shoemaker  criticised  the  shoes  in  a  certain  picture, 

u 

and  found  next  day  that  they  had  been  repainted.  Proud  of  his 
success  as  a  critic,  he  began  to  find  fault  with  the  thigh  of  the 
figure;  when  Apelles  cried  out  from  behind  the  canvas,  "  Shoe- 
maker, stick  to  your  last."  — PLINY,  H.  N.  35.  Told  by  Lucian 
of  Phidias. 


THOMAS   GOLD   APPLETON.  19 

The  success  of  Apelles  was  due  to  his  constant  practice,  so 
that  he  allowed  no  day  to  pass  without  drawing  at  least  a  line, 
which  Pliny  formulated  into  a  rule,  "No  day  without  its  line" 
(Nulla  dies  sine  linea).  — Ibid. 

THOMAS    GOLD    APPLETON. 

[An  American  wit  and  author,  noted  for  his  conversational  pow- 
ers, born  in  Boston,  Mass.,  March  31,  1812  ;  graduated  from  Harvard 
College,  1831.] 

Good  Americans,  when  they  die,  go  to  Paris. 

Perpetuated  by  the  "Autocrat  of  the  Breakfast  Table,"  chap, 
vi.,  as  the  saying  of  one  of  the  "  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Boston," 
this  is  perhaps  the  most  celebrated  American  moi.  The  saying 
of  another  of  the  "  wise  men,"  John  Lothrop  Motley  the  his- 
torian, was,  "Give  me  the  luxuries  of  life,  and  we  will  dispense 
with  its  necessaries."  Voltaire  made  a  proverbial  expression 
when  he  wrote  in  "Le  Mondain,"- 

"  Le  superflu,  chose  tres  uecessaire." 

When  one  of  his  friends  asked  Scopas  the  Thessaliari  for 
something  that  could  be  of  little  use  to  him,  he  answered,  "It 
is  in  these  useless  and  superfluous  things  that  I  am  rich  and 
happy."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life  of  Cato. 

In  allusion  to  a  peculiarity  of  the  climate,  Mr.  Appleton  said, 
"  A  Boston  man  is  the  east  wind  made  flesh ;  "  and  with  similar 
reference  to  a  noted  summer  resort,  "Nahant  is  cold  roast 
Boston." 

ST.  THOMAS  AQUINAS. 

[Surnanied  the  "  Angelic  Doctor,"  a  celebrated  scholastic  teacher  ; 
born  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  about  1225;  joined  the  Dominicans, 
and  became  famous  for  learning  and  talents,  but  refused  prefeirnent; 
taught  in  Paris  and  Rome;  died  1274. J 

By  reading  one  book. 

When  asked  in  what  way  a  man  might  become  learned. 
Entering  the  presence  of  Innocent  II. ,  before  whom  a  large 
sum  of  money  was  spread  out,  the  Pope  observed,  "  You  see,  the 


20  ARCHIDAMUS  III. 


Church  is  no  longer  in  that  age  in  which  she  said,  '  Silver  and 
gold  have  I  none.'"  —  "True,  holy  father,"  replied  Aquinas; 
"  neither  can  she  any  longer  say  to  the  lame,  '  Rise  up  and 
walk.' "  Vide  Acts  iii.  2-8. 

ARCHIDAMUS  III. 

[King  of  Sparta  ;  resisted  successfully  the  attack  of  Epaminondas, 
362  B.C.;  ascended  the  throne,  361;  having  passed  over  to  Sicily  to 
aid  the  Tarantines,  was  killed  in  battle,  328.] 

If  you  measure  your  shadow,  you  will  find  it  no  greater 
than  before  the  victory. 

To  Philip  of  Macedon,  who  sent  him  a  haughty  letter  after 
the  battle  of  Chseronea.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Laconic  Ajwllieyms. 

When  asked  how  much  land  the  Spartans  possessed,  he  replied, 
"  As  much  as  their  spears  reach."  —  Ibid. 

Periander  was  a  skilful  physician,  but  wrote  very  bad  poems, 
which  caused  the  king  to  say  to  him,  "Why,  Periander,  instead 
of  a  good  physician,  are  you  eager  to  be  called  a  bad  poet  ?  "  — 
Ibid. 

The  allies  were  consulting  together  in  regard  to  the  amount 
of  treasure  necessary  to  carry  on  the  Peloponnesian  War,  and 
how  they  should  raise  it.  Archidamus  thought  the  discussion 
futile.  "  War,"  he  said,  "  cannot  be  put  on  a  certain  allow- 
ance ; "  or,  as  Plutarch  also  gives  it  in  his  "  Apothegms  of 
Kings  and  Great  Commanders,"  "War  has  a  very  irregular 
appetite." 

When  he  saw  for  the  first  time  a  dart  shot  out  of  an  engine 
brought  from  Sicily,  he  exclaimed,  thinking  the  fashion  of  war 
would  be  thereby  changed,  "  Good  God !  true  valor  is  gone  for- 
ever !  "  —  Laconic  Apothegms. 

• 
AH  CHIMEDES. 

[The  greatest  geometer  of  antiquity;  born  in  Syracuse,  of  Greek 
extraction,  about  287  B.C. ;  enjoyed  the  favor  of  King  Hiero,  for  whom 
he  made  many  inventions  in  the  art  of  war ;  killed  at  the  capture  of 
Syracuse,  212.] 

Eureka!  or  Heureka,  as  it  should  be  in  analogy  with  Evprjua,  the 
Greek  form. 


COUNT  D'ARGENSON.  21 

Archimedes  was  consulted  by  the  king  in  regard  to  a  gold 
crown,  suspected  of  being  fraudulently  alloyed  with  silver. 
"\Vhile  considering  the  best  method  of  detecting  any  fraud,  he 
plunged  into  a  full  bathing-tub ;  and  with  the  thought  that  the 
water  which  overflowed  must  be  equal  in  bulk  to  his  body,  he 
discovered  the  method  of  ascertaining  the  bulk  of  the  crown 
compared  with  an  equally  heavy  mass  of  pure  gold.  Excited  by 
the  discovery  he  ran  through  the  streets,  undressed,  crying,  "  I 
have  found  it !  " 

Equally  celebrated  is  his  remark,  "  Give  me  where  to  stand, 
and  I  will  move  the  world,"  ddf  TTOV  OTU  aal  rbv  Kon^ov  KLVTJCU  (or 
"universe"). 

This  saying  may,  however,  be  doubted,  because  the  fulcrum 
must  have  been  placed  outside  the  kosmos,  which  is  impossible. 

His  only  remark  to  the  Roman  soldier  who  entered  his  room 
while  he  was  engaged  in  geometrical  study  was,  "Don't  step 
upon  my  circle; "  which  has  come  down  to  us  in  the  Latin  form, 
Noli  turbare  circulos  meos,  or,  as  given  by  Valerius  Maximus, 
Noli  obsecro  istum  \_circulum~]  disturbare.  Brandis  (Scholia  in 
Aristotdem')  quotes  the  Prolegomena  of  an  unnamed  author  to 
the  Keo-Platonic  Porphyrius,  who  gives  the  remark  of  the  phi- 
losopher, "  My  head,  but  not  my  circle."  Refusing  to  follow  the 
soldier  to  Marcellus,  who  had  captured  the  city,  he  was  killed  on 
the  spot. 

•* 

COUNT  D'ARGENSON. 

[A  French  cabinet  minister,  born  1697;  secretary  for  war,  1743-57; 
an  able  administrator,  a  patron  of  letters,  the  friend  of  Voltaire  and 
the  Encyclopaedists ;  died  1764.] 

I  don't  see  the  necessity  of  it  (Je  n'en  vois  pas  la  neces- 
site). 

In  reply  to  the  Abbe  des  Fontaines,  who  was  brought  before 
him  for  publishing  libels,  and  who  apologized  for  them  by  say- 
ing, "  After  all,  inonseigneur,  I  must  live  "  (Apres  tout,  ilfaut  lien 
que  je  vive).-  -  VOLTAIRE,  CEuvres  Completes,  XL VIII.  99.  At- 
tributed by  Renault  (Mc'moires,  4)  to  Count  d'Argental,  censor 
of  books. 


, 


22  ARISTIDES. 


Mme.  d'Argenson,  being  asked  which  of  two  brothers  she 
preferred,  replied,  "  When  I  am  with  one,  I  prefer  the  other " 
(Quand  je  suis  avec  Vun^faime  mieux  Vautre). 

ARISTIDES. 

[An  Athenian  general  and  statesman,  called  "  the  Just; "  the  rival 
of  Themistocles,  by  whose  intrigues  he  was  ostracised  483  B.C.;  re- 
called to  oppose  Xerxes,  and  commanded  the  Athenian  force  at  Pla- 
tsea,  479;  died  about  468.] 

May  the  Athenians  never  see  the  day  which  shall  force 
them  to  remember  Aristides. 

On  leaving  Athens  after  his  banishment.  The  Persian  Mar- 
donius  attempted  to  bribe  the  Athenians  to  desert  the  cause  of 
the  Greeks ;  but  by  the  advice  of  Aristides,  who  had  now  re- 
turned, the  offer  was  spurned,  the  latter  saying,  "  As  long  as  this 
sun  shall  shine,  the  Athenians  will  wage  war  against  the  Per- 
sians for  their  ravaged  country  and  for  their  violated  temples." 

He  once  sat  as  judge  between  two  persons,  one  of  whom  was 
charged  by  the  other  with  having  done  many  injuries  to  Aris- 
tides. "Tell  me,"  said  "the  Just,"  "what  injury  he  has  done 
to  thee ;  for  it  is  thy  cause  I  am  judging,  not  my  own." 

One  of  his  maxims  was,  "  Power  gotten  by  the  assistance  of 
friends  is  an  encouragement  of  the  unjust."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Apo- 
thegms. 

He  was  sent  on  an  embassy  with  Themistocles,  with  whom  he 
was  at  variance ;  but,  concerned  only  for  the  cause  they  had 
undertaken,  he  asked  his  rival,  "  Are  you  content,  Themistocles, 
to  leave  our  enmity  at  the  borders?  Then,  if  you  please,  we 
will  take  it  up  again  on  our  return." — Ibid. 

ARISTOTLE. 

[One  of  the  most  illustrious  philosophers  of  antiquity;  born  at 
Stagira  in  Thrace,  384  B.C.,  and  hence  called  the  "  Stagirite;  "  visited 
Athens  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  became  the  pupil  of  Plato;  was 
the  instructor  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  afterwards  opened  at 
Athens  the  school  called  the  Lyceum,  or  the  Peripatetic  School;  died 
at  Chalcis,  322  B.C.] 


SOPHIE  ARNOULD.  23 

Plato  is  dear,  but  truth  still  dearer. 

When  unable  to  adopt  all  the  principles  of  his  master's  phi- 
losophy, he  was  accustomed  to  make  use  of  the  formula  which 
comes  to  us  through  the  Latin,  Amicus  Plato,  sed  may  is  arnica  ver- 
itas.  This  was  the  opposite  of  the  motto  of  the  disciples  of 
Pythagoras,  "The  master  has  said  it."  According  to  Ammonias 
(Life  of  Aristotle),  the  name  of  Socrates  should  be  substituted 
for  that  of  Plato. 

Being  about  to  leave  Athens,  after  a  charge  of  impiety  had 
been  preferred  against  him  by  those  who  thought  him  a  friend 
of  'Macedon,  he  alluded  to  his  departure  and  to  the  death  of  Soc- 
rates, by  saying,  "  I  do  not  wish  to  see  the  Athenians  sin  twice 
against  philosophy." 

SOPHIE    ARNOULD. 

[A  popular  French  actress,  born  in  Paris  about  1744;  noted  for  her 
conversational  talent  and  bons-mots  ;  died  1803.] 

The  good  time  when  I  was  unhappy. 

A  saying  put  into  verse  by  Rulhiere,  - 

"  Un  jour,  une  actrice  fameuse 

Me  contait  les  fureurs  de  son  premier  amant ; 

Moitie  revant,  rnoitie  rieuse, 
Elle  ajoute  ce  mot  charmant : 

Oh  !  c'e'tait  le  bon  temps,  j'etais  bien  mameureuse." 

The  truth  of  this  sentiment  is  illustrated  by  a  saying  of  Dr. 
Johnson's,  "Employment  and  hardship  prevent  melancholy." 

I  entered  the  world  through  a  celebrated  door. 

She  was  born  in  the  room  where  Admiral  Coligny  was  assas- 
sinated. 

Being  told  that  a  Capuchin  monk  had  been  devoured  by  rats, 
she  exclaimed,  "Poor  animals!  what  a  terrible  thing  hunger 
must  be  !  "  (Pauvres  betes  !  il  faut  que  la  faim  soil  une  chose  ter- 
rible ! ) 

She  called  marriage  "the  sacrament  of  adultery." 

Of  a  very  thin  actress  she  observed,  "  One  needn't  go  to  St. 
Cloud  to  see  les  eaux  "  (les  os). 


24  ATTILA. 


The  names  of  three  sisters,  Rose,  Marguerite,  and  Hyacinthe, 
suggested  the  exclamation,  "  What  a  flower-bed !  "  (Ah,  quel  plate- 
lande  /)  Her  comment  upon  an  actress  who  appeared  in  mid- 
winter with  a  dress  covered  with  flowers  was,  "  You  look  like  a 
hot-house"  (Vous  avez  I* air  d'une  terre  clientele). 

ATTILA. 

[Chief  of  the  Huns;  invaded  the  Roman  empire,  A.D.  447,  and  de- 
feated the  armies  of  Theodosius,  who  was  forced  to  pay  him  tribute, 
which  his  successor  Marcian  refused  to  do,  saying,  "  I  have  gold  for 
my  friends,  and  iron  for  my  enemies;"  was  defeated  at  Chalons, 
451,  but  invaded  Italy;  retiring,  however,  to  Hungary,  where  he 
died  about  453.] 

Grass  never  grows  again  where  my  horse  has  once 
trodden. 

The  boast  of  the  "Scourge  of  God." 

The  men  who  clustered  around  Victor  Hugo  when  his  roman- 
tic dramas  banished  the  classic  style  from  the  stage  were  called 
"  barbarians."  "  We  accept  the  comparison,"  replied  one  of  them, 
the  critic  Paul  de  Saint-Victor.  "  The  grass  did  not  grow  where 
Attila  had  passed :  where  Victor  Hugo  has  passed,  the  dismal 
thistles  and  artificial  flowers  of  the  pseudo-classics  spring  up 


no  more." 


Victor  Hugo  called  Cromwell,  the  hero  of  his  first  drama, 
"an  Attila  educated  by  Machiavelli." 

Alaric,  king  of  the  Visigoths,  invaded  Italy  in  408,  and  ad- 
vanced to  Rome  :  the  citizens  induced  him  to  withdraw  by  the 
payment  of  five  thousand  pounds  of  gold  and  thirty  thousand 
pounds  of  silver.  When  they  complained  of  these  terms,  he  said, 
"  The  closer  hay  is  pressed,  the  easier  it  is  cut." 


AUGUSTUS. 

[Caius  Julius  Cresar  Octavianus,  called  Augustus  by  the  senate  and 
people,  27  B.C.,  emperor  of  Rome;  born  Sept.  23,  B.C.  63;  educated 
under  the  eye  of  Julius  Cresar,  who  made  him  his  heir  ;  divided  the 
empire,  after  Csesar's  death,  with  Antony  and  Lepidus;  defeated 
the  republicans  at  Philippi,  42,  and  Antony  at  Actiurn,  31;  sole  chief 
of  the  Roman  state  for  life,  B.C.  23  ;  died  at  Nola,  Aug.  26,  A.D.  14.] 


CAESAR  AUGUSTUS.  25 

They    will    pay   on    the    Greek    Kalends   (ad  Kalendas 
Grcecas). 

In  ordinary  conversation,  says  Suetonius,  he  made  use  of  sev- 
eral peculiar  expressions,  as  appears  from  letters  in  his  own 
handwriting;  in  which,  now  and  then,  when  he  means  to  inti- 
mate that  some,  persons  would  never  pay  their  debts,  he  says, 
"  They  will  pay  at  the  Greek  Kalends,"  -the  Greeks  having  no 
such  day  in  their  calendar;  whereas  in  Rome  the  Kalends,  or 
first  day  of  the  month,  were  the  usual  pay-day.  — Life,  chap.  87. 

He  thought  nothing  more  derogatory  of  the  character  of  an 
accomplished  general  than  precipitancy  and  rashness ;  on  which 
account  he  had  frequently  in  his  mouth  these  proverbs  :  27rei)c5e 
(Bpadsus  ("  Make  haste  slowly,"  or,  as  it  is  often  quoted  in  its 
Latin  form,  Festina  lente)  ;  and,  "  That  is  done  fast  enough  which 
is  done  well  enough"  (Sat  celeriter  fit  quidquid  Jiat  satis  lene).- 
Ibid. 

When  Sir  Amyas  Paulet  saw  that  too  much  haste  was  being 
made  in  any  matter,  he  used  to  say,  "  Stay  a  while,  that  we  may 
make  an  end  the  sooner." 

"  Wisely  and  slow  :  they  stumble  that  run  fast." 

Romeo  and  Juliet,  II.  3. 

I  love  treason,  but  do  not  commend  traitors. 

When  Rymetalces,  king  of  Thrace,  boasted  of  forsaking  An- 
tony, and  going  over  to  Octavianus.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Apothegms. 

After  the  battle  of  Philippi,  he  answered  one  of  the  defeated 
and  captive  republicans,  who  entreated  that  at  least  he  might 
not  remain  unburied,  "  That  will  be  in  the  power  of  the  birds." 
—  SUETONIUS  :  Life. 

When  in  Egypt  he  wished  to  see  the  sarcophagus  and  body  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  which  were  taken  out  of  the  cell  in  which 
they  rested ;  being  asked  if  he  would  like  to  see  the  tombs  of 
the  Ptolemies  also,  he  replied,  "I  wish  to  see  a  king,  not  dead 
men."  —  Ibid. 

He  refused  to  give  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  a  tributary  Gaul, 
but  offered  to  remit  his  taxes;  saying,  "I  would  rather  surfer 
some  loss  in  my  exchequer,  than  that  the  citizenship  of  Rome  be 
rendered  too  common." 


26  CJESAR  AUGUSTUS. 

He  often  invited  Virgil  and  Horace  to  his  table.  The  former 
was  asthmatic,  the  latter  had  weak  eyes ;  so  th  it  the  emperor 
used  to  say,  "Here  I  am,  between  sighs  and  tears." 

Varus,  give  me  back  my  legions  ! 

The  German  soldier  Hermann  (Arminius)  had  entered  the 
Roman  army,  and  obtained  the  rank  of  knighthood,  with  the 
privileges  of  citizenship.  Being  indignant  au  the  oppression  of 
his  country  under  the  emperor's  lieutenant,  Quintilius  Varus, 
he  induced  the  Roman  commander  to  advance  his  army  beyond 
the  Rhine,  where  it  suffered  a  severe  defeat  in  the  marshes 
near  Lippe,  A.D.  9  ;  three  legions,  with  the  commander,  his  lieu- 
tenants, and  all  the  auxiliaries,  being  cut  off.  "  The  emperor 
was  in  such  consternation  at  this  event,"  says  Suetonius,  "  that  he 
let  the  hair  of  his  head  and  beard  grow  for  several  months,  and 
sometimes  knocked  his  head  against  the  door-posts,  crying  out, '  O 
Quintilius  Varus  !  give  me  back  my  legions  ! '  '  (redde  legiones  !) 

The  Due  d'Audriffet-Pasquier,  defending,  in  the  French  As- 
sembly, 1871,  after  the  Franco-German  war,  a  report  severely 
criticising  the  war  contracts  of  the  Second  Empire,  exclaimed, 
in  reply  to  Rouher,  "  Give  us  back  our  lost  legions  !  Give  us 
back  the  glory  of  our  fathers  !  Give  us  back  our  provinces  !  " 

Dr.  AVolcott  (Peter  Pindar),  when  asked  on  his  death-bed,  by 
his  physician,  what  could  be  done  for  him,  replied,  "  Give  ine 
back  my  youth !  " 

Marshal  Augereau,  reproached  by  Napoleon  on  the  morning  of 
the  battle  of  Leipsic,  Oct.  16,  1813,  with  being  no  longer  the 
Augereau  of  Castiglione  (1796),  replied,  "  I  shall  always  be 
the  Augereau  of  Castiglione,  when  your  majesty  gives  me  back 
the  soldiers  of  Italy." 

A  monument  to  Hermann  on  the  Teutoberg,  near  Detmold, 
in  the  principality  of  Lippe,  was  unveiled  in  presence  of  the 
German  emperor,  Aug.  16,  1875. 

I  found  Rome  brick,  I  leave  it  marble. 

The  boast  he  was  able  to  make,  after  improving  the  condition 
of  the  city,  which  had  been  often  burned,  and  was  exposed  to 
the  inundations  of  the  Tiber.  The  saying  recorded  by  Sueto- 
nius has  another  version  given  it  by  Dion  Cassius,  who  applies 


C.ESAR  AUGUSTUS.  27 

it  to  his  consolidation  of  the  government,  in  the  following  form : 
"  That  Rome,  which  I  found  built  of  mud,  I  shall  leave  you  firm 
as  a  rock."  -LVI.  589.  The  most  important  of  the  public  build- 
ings erected  by  Augustus  were  a  forum  containing  a  Temple  of 
Mars  the  Avenger,  the  Temple  of  Apollo  on  the  Palatine  Hill, 
and  the  Temple  of  Jupiter  Tonans  in  the  Capitol,  the  Portico 
and  Basilica  of  Lucius  and  Cains,  the  Porticoes  of  Livia  and 
Octavia,  and  the  Theatre  of  Marcellus.  His  own  dwelling-house 
on  the  Palatine  was  of  the  most  modest  description. 

The  finest  use  of  this  boast  of  the  Roman  emperor  is  con- 
tained in  the  peroration  of  Brougham's  speech  on  Law  Reform, 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  February,  1828  :  "  It  was  the  boast 
of  Augustus,  —  it  formed  part  of  the  glare  in  which  the  perfidies 
of  his  earlier  years  were  lost,  —  that  he  found  Rome  of  brick, 
and  left  it  of  marble  ;  a  praise  not  unworthy  a  great  prince,  and 
to  which  the  present  reign  also  has  its  claims.  But  how  much 
nobler  will  be  the  sovereign's  boast  when  he  shall  have  it  to 
say  that  he  found  law  dear,  and  left  it  cheap  ;  found  it  a  sealed 
book,  left  it  a  living  letter  ;  found  it  the  patrimony  of  the  rich, 
left  it  the  inheritance  of  the  poor ;  found  it  the  two-edged  swrord 
of  craft  and  oppression,  left  it  the  staff  of  honesty  and  the  shield 
of  innocence  !  ': 

When  Piso  built  his  house  with  great  thoroughness  from  top 
to  bottom,  Augustus  said  to  him,  "You  cheer  my  heart,  who 
build  as  if  Rome  would  be  eternal."  —  PLUTARCH:  Apothegms. 
Is  not  this  the  first  time  that  Rome  is  spoken  of  as  the  "  Eternal 
City"?  Its  first  occurrence  in  literature  is  in  Tibullus,  who 
speaks  of  "eternal  Rome"  (Roma  eterna),  II.  5,  23,  which  Am- 
mianus  Marcellinus,  a  Roman  historian  of  the  fourth  century, 
repeats.  —  Rerun  Gestarum,  XVI.  chap.  10,  14. 

That  is  why  I  weep. 

When  told  that  his  tears  could  not  bring  his  dead  friend  to  life. 
Solon,  when  told  that  weeping  for  his  dead  son  would  not  re- 
store him  to  life,  replied,  "  Therefore  I  weep,  because  weeping 
will  not  help."  But  it  is  an  expression  open  to  misconstruction, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  man  who  put  upon  his  wife's  tombstone 
the  words,  "  Tears  will  not  restore  thee,  therefore  I  weep." 


28  LORD  BACON. 


To  the  young  Galba,  who  came  once  with  other  boys  to  pay 
his  respects  to  Augustus,  the  emperor,  pinching  his  cheek,  said 
in  Greek,  "  And  thou,  child,  too,  shalt  taste  our  empire." — SUE- 
TOXIUS  :  Life  of  Galba. 

Athenodorus,  the  philosopher,  begged  leave  that  he  might  retire 
from  court  on  account  of  his  old  age ;  his  petition  being  granted, 
he  said  on  taking  leave,  "  Remember,  Caesar,  whenever  you  are 
angry,  to  say  or  do  nothing  before  you  have  repeated  the  four- 
and-twenty  letters  of  the  alphabet  to  yourself."  Whereupon 
Augustus  grasped  his  hand,  saying,  "  I  have  need  of  your  pres- 
ence still :  the  reward  of  silence  is  a  sure  reward ;  "  an  expres- 
sion which  Horace  put  into  verse,  — 

"  Est  et  fideli  tuta  silentio 

Merces." 

Odes,  III.  2,  25. 

In  endeavoring  to  pacify  some  young  men  who  showed  an 
imperious  temper,  and  gave  but  little  heed  to  him,  he  said, 
"Young  men,  hear  an  old  man  to  whom  old  men  hearkened 
when  he  was  young."  —  PLUTARCH:  Apothegms. 

Upon  the  day  of  his  death,  he  asked  the  friends  who  were  ad- 
mitted to  his  room  the  question  used  by  actors  to  solicit  applause 
as  they  left  the  stage,  "  Do  you  think  that  I  have  acted  my  part 
on  the  stage  of  life  well  ?  "  adding  two  lines  of  a  Greek  poet,  — 

"  If  all  be  right,  with  joy  your  voices  raise, 
In  loud  applauses  to  the  actor's  praise." 

SUETONIUS  :  Life. 

Among  the  last  words  attributed  to  Rabelais  without  sufficient 
reason,  was  an  expression  used  by  Demonax,  the  cynic  philoso- 
pher of  Athens,  A.D.  150,  "Draw  the  curtain,  the  farce  is 
ended  "  (in  French,  Tirez  le  rideau,  la  farce  est  joue'e). 

LOUD  BACON. 

[Francis  Bacon,  created  Baron  Verulam,  and  Viscount  St.  Albans, 
but  commonly  called  Lord  Bacon;  born  1561;  solicitor-general,  1607; 
attorney-general,  1613;  lord  keeper,  1617;  lord  chancellor,  1618;  pub- 
lished the  "  Novum  Organum,"  1620;  impeached  for  corrupt  practices, 
and  sentenced  to  fine  and  imprisonment,  1621;  imprisoned  but  two 
days,  and  the  fine  remitted;  died  1626.] 


LORD  BACOX.  29 


Just   two  years  younger  than   your  majesty's   happy 
reign. 

When  asked  by  Queen  Elizabeth  how  old  he  was,  on  her  visit 
to  his  father  in  1572.  He  was  then  eleven,  and  his  ready  an- 
swer caused  the  queen  to  call  him  her  "  little  lord  keeper,"  from 
the  office  his  father  then  held. 

He  replied  later  in  life  to  Elizabeth,  who  asked  his  opinion  of 
enclosures  in  a  case  which  had  been  referred  to  the  judges, 
"  Madam,  my  mind  is  known :  I  am  against  all  enclosures,  and 
especially  against  enclosed  justice."  He  said  in  introducing  a 
bill  into  Parliament  in  1597,  "against  enclosures  and  the  depopu- 
lation of  towns,"  "I  should  be  sorry  to  see  within  this  kingdom 
that  piece  of  Ovid's  verse  prove  true,  'jam  seyes  ubi  Troja  full;' 
in  England  nought  but  green  fields,  a  shepherd,  and  a  dog." 

He  protested  on  one  occasion  to  the  queen,  that  he  spoke  from 
a  sense  of  duty :  "  I  am  not  so  simple  but  I  know  the  common 
beaten  way  to  please." 

When  a  change  was  proposed  in  the  Church  of  England  which 
Bacon  thought  fatal,  he  said,  "  The  subject  we  talk  of  is  the  eye 
of  England :  if  there  be  a  speck  or  two  in  the  eye,  we  endeavor 
to  take  them  off ;  he  would  be  a  strange  oculist,  who  should  pull 
out  the  eye." 

He  remarked  of  the  increase  of  windows  in  houses  in  1567, 
"You  shall  have  sometime  your  house  so  full  of  glass  that  we 
cannot  tell  where  to  come  to  be  out  of  the  sun  or  the  cold." 

Sir  Henry  Montague  said  he  hoped  to  bring  the  staff  from 
Newmarket  where  King  James  was,  meaning  that  he  wished  to 
be  made  lord  treasurer.  "Take  heed,"  said  Bacon,  "what  you 
do,  my  lord :  wood  is  dearer  at  Newmarket  than  at  any  other 
place  in  England."  The  office,  with  the  title  of  Mandeville,  cost 
him,  says  Dixon,  twenty  thousand  pounds.  — Life  of  Bacon. 


Mr.  Attorney,  I  respect  you,  I  fear  you  not ;  and  the  less 
you  speak  of  your  own  greatness,  the  more  I  will 
think  of  it. 

To  Coke,  who  presumed  on  his  superior  position  as  attorney- 
general,  to  say  in  court,  "Mr.  Bacon,  if  you  have  any  tooth 
against  me  pluck  it  out,  for  it  will  do  you  more  hurt  than  all  the 
teeth  in  your  head  will  do  you  good." 


30  SIR  NICHOLAS   BACOX. 

He  wrote  to  Coke,  "Rich  soils  are  often  to  be  weeded;" 
meaning  that  the  latter,  who  had  a  large  and  fruitful  mind, 
should  not  so  much  labor  what  to  speak,  as  to  find  what  to 
leave  unspoken. 

Pope  declares  it  to  be  as  necessary  in  poetry  as  in  oratory :  — 

"  E'en  copious  Dry  den  wanted,  or  forgot, 
The  last  and  greatest  art,  the  art  to  blot." 

Epistles,  L,  II.,  280. 

I  besaech  your  lordships  to  be  merciful  to  a  broken 
reed. 

Acknowledging  the  charge  of  corruption  for  which  he  was 
impeached.  He  said  to  James  I.  after  his  fall,  "  I  would  live  to 

^^ 

study,  and  not  gtudy  to  live  ;  yet  I  am  prepared  for  date  obolum 
Belisario,  and  I  that  had  borne  a  bag  (that  containing  the  great 
seal)  can  bear  a  wallet." 

Belisarius,  a  Byzantine  general  of  great  ability,  was  born  in 
Illyria  about  505  A.D.  He  was  appointed  by  Justinian  general- 
in-chief  of  the  army  of  the  East,  was  employed  against  the  Os- 
trogoths, and  recovered  Rome  from  their  possession,  but  was 
recalled,  5-10.  Having  been  accused  of  a  conspiracy  against  the 
life  of  Justinian,  his  fortune  was  sequestered;  but  that  he  was 
deprived  of  sight,  and  reduced  to  beggary,  sitting  at  the  gate  of 
the  city  and  addressing  the  passers-by  with  the  words  quoted  by 
Lord  Bacon,  "Give  a  penny  to  Belisarius,"  is,  says  Gibbon,  "a 
fiction  of  later  times,  which  has  obtained  credit,  or  rather  favor, 
as  a  strong  example  of  the  vicissitudes  of  fortune."  —  Decline 
and  Fall,  IV.  286,  note. 

In  a  private  letter  to  James  I.,  accompanying  the  "Xovum 
Organum,"  Bacon  said,  "  I  am  persuaded  that  the  work  will 
gain  upon  men's  minds  in  ages."  He  had  this  in  view  when  he 
wrote  in  his  last  will  and  testament :  "  For  mv  name  and 

i« 

memory,  I  leave  it  to  men's  charitable  speeches,  to  foreign  na- 
tions, and  to  the  next  ages." 

SIR  NICHOLAS  BACOX. 

[Father  of  Lord  Bacon;  "born  1510;  appointed  lord  keeper  of  the 
great  seal  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  which  he  held  twenty  years;  died 
1579.] 


JEAN  BAILLY.  31 


Your  highness  has  made  me  too  great  for  my  house. 

To  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  remarked  during  her  visit  to  him  in 
1572,  that  his  house  was  too  small,  but  (referring  to  his  corpu- 
lence) that  his  soul  lodged  well. 

When  asked  by  the  queen  his  opinion  of  the  monopoly  license, 
he  replied  by  quoting,  "Licentid  omnes  deteriores  sumus  "  (We  are 
all  the  worse  for  licenses). 

A  convicted  criminal,  named  Hog,  implored  mercy  on  the 
ground  of  kindred.  "But  you  and  I,"  said  the  lord  keeper,  "can- 
not be  kindred  except  you  be  hanged,  for  Hog  is  not  Bacon  until 
it  be  well  hanyed." 

The  Earl  of  Leicester  asked  his  opinion  of  two  persons  the 
queen  thought  well  of.  "By  my  troth,  my  lord,"  was  his  reply, 
"  the  one  is  a  grave  counsellor ;  the  other  is  a  proper  young  man, 
and  he  will  be  as  long  as  he  lives." 

JEAN  BAILLY. 

[A  French  astronomer  and  philosopher,  born  1736;  member  of  the 
French  Academy;  deputy  to  the  States-General,  178!),  of  which  lie 
was  president ;  mayor  of  Paris  the  same  year ;  condemned  to  death 
by  the  Jacobins,  and  executed,  Nov.  12,  1793.] 

It  is  only  from  cold. 

When  told,  on  the  way  to  execution,  that  he  trembled.  "  The 
populace,"  says  Carlyle,  "would  not  have  him  executed  in  the 
Champ  de  Mars,  but  by  the  river-side.  The  guillotine  is  taken 
down,  is  carried  to  the  river-side ;  is  there  set  up  again,  with 
slow  numbness ;  pulse  after  pulse  counting  itself  out  in  the  old 
man's  weary  heart.  For  hours  long,  amid  curses  and  bitter  frost- 
rain.  'Bailly,  thou  tremblest,'  said  one.  '  Mon  ami,  c'e*t  de 
froid."1  Crueller  end  had  no  mortal."  —  French  Revolution.  An 
almost  identical  answer  is  put  by  Shakespeare  into  the  mouth  of 
Lord  Say,  who  is  brought  up  for  sentence  before  Jack  Cade,  — 

Dick.    Why  dost  thou  quiver,  man  ? 

Say.    The  palsy,  and  not  fear,  provoketh  me. 

2  Henry  VI.,  IV.  7. 

Charles  I.,  of  England,  put  on  two  shirts  the  morning  of  his 
execution,  saying,  "  If  I  tremble  with  cold,  my  enemies  will  say 


32  CHARLES   JEAN  BARBAROUX. 

it  was  from  fear :  I  will  not  expose  myself  to  such  reproaches." 
—  LIXGARD  :  History  of  England,  X.,  chap.  5. 

Bailly  handed,  as  mayor,  the  keys  of  Paris  to  Louis  XVI., 
after  the  ratification  of  the  constitution  in  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
saying,  "  I  bring  your  majesty  the  same  keys  which  were  pre- 
sented to  Henry  IV.  He  reconquered  his  people :  here  the 
people  have  reconquered  their  king." 

When  told  that  his  election  to  the  States-General  was  secure, 
he  replied  in  the  same  words  used  of  candidature  for  office  by 
Thomas  Jefferson,  "  That  honor  ought  neither  to  be  solicited  nor 
refused." 

When  some  regretted  that  by  his  election  his  studies  would  be 
suspended,  he  made  the  patriotic  answer,  "  I  am  a  Frenchman ; 
and  if  I  can  co-operate  in  the  enactment  of  a  good  law,  that  is 
preferable  to  a  hundred  astronomical  calculations." 

CHARLES  JEAN  BARBAROUX. 

[A  French  revolutionist,  the  friend  of  Charlotte  Corday  and 
Madame  Roland,  who  said  that  artists  would  not  have  despised  his 
head  for  the  model  of  an  Antinous  ;  born  1767;  deputy  from  Mar- 
seilles to  the  Legislative  Assembly,  1791;  voted  for  the  death  of  Louis 
XVI.,  but  with  an  appeal  to  the  people;  having  been  condemned 
with  the  Girondists,  lie  was  discovered  near  Bordeaux,  and  shot 
himself,  1794.  "  Over  whose  black  doom,"  says  Carlyle,  "  there  shall 
flit,  nevertheless,  a  certain  ruddy  fervor."] 

Send  me  six  hundred  men  who  know  how  to  die  (qui 
savent  mourir). 

His  message  to  the  municipality  of  Marseilles,  June,  1792, 
when  an  invasion  of  France  by  the  Duke  of  Brunswick  seemed 
imminent.  It  was  for  this  band  of  revolutionists  that  Rouget 
de  Lisle  wrote  the  "Marseillaise,"  called  by  Carlyle  "the  lucki- 
est musical  composition  ever  promulgated." 

Antoine  Baudin,  a  member  of  the  Corps  Legislatif,  was  shot 
while  resisting  the  coup  d'etat  of  1851.  To  some  workmen  who 
refused  to  assist  him  in  erecting  barricades,  saying,  "  Do  you 
think  that  we  wish  to  be  killed,  that  you  may  retain  your  twen- 
ty-five francs  a  day?  "  (the  salary  of  members),  he  replied,  "You 
will  see  how  one  dies  for  twenty-five  francs  a  day"  (Vous  allez 


BERTRAXD  BARERE.  33 

voir  comment  on  meurt  pour  vingt-cinq  francs).  Gambetta  brought 
himself  into  notice  in  1868,  by  defending  certain  opposition 
journals  which  were  prosecuted  for  opening  subscription-lists 
for  a  monument  to  Bautlin. 

Barbaroux  spoke  with  the  extravagance  of  the  revolutionists 
to  the  electoral  assembly  of  the  Benches  du  Rhone,  Sept.  3, 1792  : 
"  Mine  is  the  soul  of  a  free  man ;  ever  since  my  fourth  year  it 
has  been  nourished  on  hatred  to  kings."  He  used  brave  words 
when  they  were  dangerous,  of  the  Jacobins  in  1793 :  "  You  may 
compel  me  to  sink  under  their  daggers :  you  shall  not  make 
me  fall  at  their  feet ; "  and  after  the  arrest  of  the  Girondists, 
with  whom  he  had  acted,  he  refused  military  protection,  say- 
ing, "  I  require  no  bayonets  to  defend  the  liberty  of  my 
thoughts." 

BERTRAND    BARERE. 

[Called  the  "  Anacreon  of  the  guillotine,"  on  account  of  the  flowery 
style  with  which  he  adorned  the  most  atrocious  measures  of  the  Reign 
of  Terror;  born  1755;  deputy  to  the  States-General;  voted  in  the  Con- 
vention for  the  death  of  the  king;  moved  the  condemnation  of  Robes- 
pierre; banished  1806;  returned  to  France,  1830  ;  died  miserably,  1811.] 

Only  the  dead  return  not  (H  ri>y  a  que  les  morts  qui  ne 
remennent  pas). 

A  pun  on  reviennent,  to  return,  or  to  stalk  as  a  ghost;  and  so, 
sarcastically,  "Only  dead  men's  ghosts  do  not  walk."  In  the 
Convention,  1794.  The  entire  sentence  is  :  "  If  a  year  ago  the 
English  soldiers  had  been  refused  pardon,  which  they  begged 
on  their  knees ;  if  our  troops  had  destroyed  them,  one  and  all, 
instead  of  allowing  them  to  disturb  our  fortresses, --the  British 
government  would  not  this  year  have  renewed  its  attack  upon 
our  frontiers.  It  is  only  the  dead  who  do  not  return."  Napo- 
leon used  the  expression  in  regard  to  himself,  on  the  17th  July 
and  12th  December,  1816. --O'MEARA  :  Napoleon  in  Exile. 

To  Barere  are  due  some  of  the  most  bloodthirsty  utterances 
of  this  bloody  epoch.  He  declared  in  the  Convention,  in  1792, 
"  The  tree  of  liberty  only  grows  when  watered  by  the  blood  of 
tyrants  "  (L'arbre  de  la  liberte  ne  croit  qu'arrose  par  le  sang  des 
tyrant?).  He  said  to  Robespierre  and  other  Jacobins  at  dinner 


34  ANTOIXE   BARNAVE. 

what  Saint-Just  repeated  in  public  in  1794,  "  The  ship  of  the 
revolution  can  only  arrive  in  port  on  water  red  with  blood " 
(sur  une  mer  rougie  de  jiots  de  sang).  When  it  was  feared  that 
his  exertions  in  the  Reign  of  Terror  would  injure  his  health,  he 
replied  that  he  was  less  busy  than  they  supposed.  "  The  guillo- 
tine governs,"  he  coolly  adds.  He  called  the  executioner's  cart, 
or  the  tumbril  which  carried  the  condemned  from  prison  to  the 
scaffold,  "the  bier  of  the  living." 

Barere  asserted  in  the  Convention  that  revolutionary  measures 
should  be  spoken  of  with  respect :  "  Liberty  is  a  virgin  whose 
veil  it  is  not  lawful  to  lift." 

One  of  his  expressions  was  calculated  to  flatter  the  vanity 
of  the  Jacobins  :  "  You  are  called  upon  to  remake  history " 
(Vous  etes  appeles  a  recommencer  Vhistoire).  —  MARTIN:  Histoire 
de  France,  XVI.  end. 

ANTOINE  BARNAVE. 

[A  politician  of  the  French  Revolution;  born  at  Grenoble,  1761; 
elected  to  the  States-General,  1789;  appointed  to  attend  the  royal 
family  on  their  return  from  the  flight  to  Varennes,  and  became  from 
that  time  a  defender  of  the  throne;  retired  at  the  close  of  the  Assem- 
bly, 1791;  executed,  November,  1793.] 

Was  the  blood  which  has  just  been  shed  so  pure  ?  (Le 

sang  qui  vient  de  se  repandre,  etait-il  done  si  pur  ?) 

"  The  inexcusable  and  fatal  expression,"  says  Sainte-Beuve, 
"which  cost  him  his  entire  life,  and  at  last  his  death,  to  obliter- 
ate;" called  forth  in  reply  to  a  denunciation  of  the  murder  of  the 
intendants,  Foulon  and  Bartier,  who  were  hanged  to  lamp-posts 
by  the  mob  in  1790.  Of  Foulon,  who  had  been  appointed  min- 
ister, accounts  vary;  sympathizers  with  the  revolution  calling 
him  harsh  and  exacting,  while  Taine  ("French  Revolution") 
pronounces  him  a  strict  master,  but  intelligent  and  useful,  who 
expended  sixty  thousand  francs  the  winter  before  his  death  in 
giving  employment  to  the  poor.  On  the  day  of  Barnave's  execu- 
tion, two  men  placed  themselves  opposite  the  cart  in  the  court- 
yard of  the  Palace  of  Justice ;  when  he  appeared,  they  jeeringly 
applied  to  him  his  own  words,  "  Barnave,  is  the  blood  that  is 
about  to  flow  so  pure  ?  " 


ANTOINE  BARXAYE.  35 

Perish  the  colonies,  rather  than  a  principle! 

In  the  Constituent  Assembly,  May  7,  1791,  upon  a  proposition 
to  give  colonial  legislatures  composed  of  whites  the  initiative  of 
legislation  concerning  persons.  Dupont  de  Nemours,  replying 
to  those  who  maintained  that  the  colonies  would  be  lost  without 
distinction  of  caste,  exclaimed,  "Better  sacrifice  the  coloi 
than  a  principle  !  "  and  Robespierre  added,  "  Perish  the  colonies, 
if  they  wish  to  force  us  to  decree  according  to  their  interests !  " 
From  these  two  phrases  Barnave  formed  the  more  compact  one, 
"  Pe'rissent  les  colonies  plutot  qu'un  principe  !  " 

Of  the  many  forms  of  this  expression,  perhaps  the  earliest 
may  be  found  in  Corneille's  "  Rodogune,"  1648,  —  "Let  the  sky 
fall,  so  that  I  be  avenged !  "  (Tombe  que  moi  le  del,  pourvu  que  je 
me  venge .')  Danton  exclaimed,  "Perish  my  reputation,  rather 
than  my  country !  '  ("  Perisse  ma  reputation,  plutot  que  ma  pa- 
trie  /)  Vergniaud  was  probably  more  sincere,  in  the  Convention, 
1792,  "Perish  our  memory,  but  let  France  be  free!"  {Perisse 
noire  me'?noire,  pourvu  que  la  France  soil  libre .') 

George  Hardinge  uttered  a  similar  expression  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  during  a  debate  on  the  Traitorous  Correspondence 
Bill,  March  22,  1793 :  "  Perish  commerce,  let  the  constitution 
live !  " 

Take  courage,  madame:  it  is  true  that  our  banner  is 
torn,  but  the  word  "Constitution"  is  still  legible 
thereon. 

To  Marie  Antoinette  on  the  return  from  Varennes,  1791.  The 
queen  said  of  Barnave  on  this  occasion,  "  If  ever  power  is  again 
in  our  hands,  pardon  is  already  written  in  our  hearts ;  "  again 
she  declared,  "  I  will  place  myself  between  Barnave  and  the  exe- 
cutioner, but  Lafayette  I  never  can  forgive."  Her  daughter,  the 
Duchess  d'Angouleme,  thought  that  if  the  queen  could  have 
overcome  her  prejudice  against  Lafayette,  and  had  shown  him 
greater  confidence,  the  royal  family  would  not  have  perished. 
The  queen  considered  him  a  traitor  to  the  court  and  to  his 
caste.  "Better  perish,"  she  once  exclaimed,  "than  owe  our  lives 
to  Lafayette  and  the  constitutional  party !  " 

The  last  words  of  Barnave,  on  the  scaffold,  "stamping  with 


36  ISAAC  BARRE. 


his  foot,  and  looking  upward,"  were,  "  This,  then,  was  my  re- 
ward ! " 

Mirabeau  declared  of  Barnave,  when,  as  Dumont  says,  he 
was  satisfied  with  him,  certainly  before  their  great  struggle  over 
the  king's  veto,  "  He  is  a  tree,  growing  to  become  some  day  the 
mast  of  a  line-of -battle  ship."  —  Recollections  of  Mirabeau. 

ISAAC    BARRE. 

[An  English  soldier  and  politician,  born  1726;  served  in  Canada 
under  Wolfe;  entered  Parliament,  1761;  opposed  North's  administra- 
tion; privy  councillor,  1766;  died  ]S02.] 

They   planted    by   your   care  !     No,    your    oppression 
planted  them   in  America. 

In  reply  to  Charles  Townshend,  February,  1765,  who  asked  if 
colonies  planted  by  British  care  would  grudge  taxation. 

JEAN    BART. 

[A  French  naval  commander,  born  1651 ;  distinguished  himself  as 
a  privateersinan  ;  appointed  by  Louis  XIV.  chief  of  squadron,  1697  ; 
died  1702.] 

I  learned  to  smoke  in  the  king's  service :  he  will  not 
take  offence  at  it. 

His  reply  to  the  courtiers,  who  expressed  their  surprise  at 
seeing  him  light  his  pipe  in  the  waiting-room  at  Versailles. 

When  the  king  told  him  of  his  appointment  to  the  command 
of  the  fleet,  he  exclaimed,  "Well  done,  your  majesty!"  (Vous 
avez  bien  fait,  votre  majeste!)  To  show  his  contempt  of  their 
comments  upon  the  sailor's  uncouth  manners,  the  king  said  to 
his  courtiers,  "  No  doubt  Jean  Bart  does  not  talk  like  you,  but 
who  of  vou  could  act  like  Jean  Bart?" 


BARON    DE    BASSOMPIERRE. 

[Francois  de  Bassompierre,  Marquis  d'Harouel,  born  in  Lorraine, 
1579  ;  distinguished  himself  at  the  court  of  Henry  IV.,  who  appointed 
him  colonel-general  of  the  Swiss  Guards  ;  made  marshal  of  France 


ANSELME  BATBIE.  37 

by  Louis  XIII.  ;  imprisoned  in  the  Bastille  by  Richelieu,  1G31 ;  re- 
leased on  the  cardinal's  death,  1G42  ;  died  164G.] 

I  am  looking  for  a  passage  which  I  do  not  find. 

During  his  long  imprisonment  in  the  Bastille,  his  secretary 
found  him  on  one  occasion  reading  the  Bible,  and  asked  him 
what  he  was  looking  for.  "  A  passage  I  do  not  find,"  he  replied 
(Je  cherche  un  passage  que  je  ne  saurais  trouver),  meaning  a  pas- 
sage out  of  the  Bastille. 

When  the  Prince  of  Coude  and  his  brother  were  sent  to  the 
same  prison  by  Mazarin  in  1650,  they  were  asked  what  books 
they  would  like  to  have  brought  to  them.  The  Prince  de  Conti 
requested  the  "Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ,"  by  Thomas  a  Kempis. 
Conde  said  he  should  prefer  the  imitation  of  the  Due  de  Beau- 
fort, who  had  recently  escaped  from  the  Bastille. 

ANSELME    BATBIE. 

[A  French  politician,  born  1828  ;  member  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly and  Senate  ;  Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  Worship,  and  Fine 
Arts,  1873.] 

We  must  organize  against  the  progress  of  revolution- 
ary barbarism  a  government  of  combat. 

The  expression  un  gouvernement  de  combat,  which  M.  Batbie  used 
in  a  parliamentary  report,  November,  1872,  during  the  presidency 
of  Thiers,  became  the  watchword  and  counter-watchword  of  the 
conservative  and  republican  parties  during  the  parliamentary 
struggle  which  ended  in  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchical  com- 
bination by  the  elections  of  1877. 

CHEVALIER    BAYARD. 

[Pierre  de  Terrail,  the  Chevalier  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche,  born 
1475  ;  accompanied  Charles  VIII.  and  Louis  XII.  in  their  Italian 
wars ;  having  assumed  command  of  the  French  army  against  the  Im- 
perialists, was  mortally  wounded  at  Ivrea,  while  effecting  a  retreat, 
and  died  on  the  field,  1524.] 

Glorious  sword. 

Francis  I.  of  France  insisted  that  the  honor  of  knighthood, 
which  had  never  been  conferred  upon  him,  should  be  given 


CHEVALIER  BAYARD. 

him  by  Bayard,  after  the  battle  of  Marignano,  September,  1515. 
When  the  ceremony  had  been  performed,  the  Chevalier  apos- 
trophized his  sword,  "  Glorious  sword,  who  hast  been  honored 
by  conferring  knighthood  on  the  greatest  king  in  the  world,  I 
will  never  use  thee  again,  save  against  the  infidel,  the  enemy  of 
the  Christian  name  !  "  —  After  his  surrender  at  Pavia,  Francis 
exclaimed,  "  Ah,  Bayard  !  if  I  had  you,  I  should  not  be  here 
now  !  "  It  was  a  similar  cry  to  that  of  Gordon  of  Glenbucket, 
at  the  battle  of  Sheriff muir,  Nov.  13,  1715,  between  the  Scotch 
rebels  under  the  Earl  of  Mar,  and  the  royalists  commanded  by 
Argyle.  During  the  heat  of  the  conflict,  Gordon  called  for  the 
terrible  Grahame  of  Claverhouse,  Viscount  Dundee,  who  fell  at 
the  pass  of  Killiecrankie,  1689,  "  Oh  for  an  hour  of  Dundee ! " 
which  Wordsworth  has  versified,  — 

"  Oh  for  a  single  hour  of  that  Dundee 
"Who  on  that  day  the  word  of  onset  gave  !  " 

Sonnet  in  the  Pass  of  Killiecrankie. 

Several  maxims  and  proverbial  expressions  are  recorded  of 
Bayard ;  as,  "  What  the  gauntlet  gains,  the  gorget  consumes " 
(Ce  que  le  gantelet  gagne,  le  gorgerin  le  mange). 

Being  asked  the  difference  between  a  wise  man  and  a  fool,  he 
replied,  "  The  same  that  there  is  between  a  sick  man  and  his 
doctor." 

He  said  to  two  boys  whom  he  was  punishing  for  swearing, 
"  A  bad  habit  contracted  in  youth  is  no  little  thing,  but  a  great 
thing  indeed." 

He  answered  the  question,  "What  should  a  father  leave  his 
children?  '"  by  saying,  "  The  father  should  leave  that  which  fears 
no  rain,  tempest,  or  the  force  of  man,  or  the  weakness  of  human 
justice, — that  is,  wisdom  and  virtue;  like  indeed  unto  him  who 
would  plant  a  garden,  and  put  therein  good  seed  and  sound 
trees." 

"  Xo  place  is  weak,"  he  said,  "  where  there  are  men  capable  of 
defending  it." 

A  man  who  fights  against  his  country  deserves  pity 
more  than  I. 

His  last  words ;  to  the  Due  de  Bourbon,  of  the  opposing  army, 
who  had  abandoned  the  cause  of  France  for  the  service  of  the 


CLAUDE  BAZIRE.  39 


Emperor  Charles  V.,  and  visited  Bayard  upon  the  battle-field, 
under  the  tree  where  the  wounded  knight  had  directed  himself 
to  be  placed,  saying,  "Let  me  die  facing  the  enemy." 

Francis  Marion,  an  American  general  of  the  Revolution,  re- 
plied to  a  British  officer  who  pitied  the  half-starved  condition 
of  the  partisan  leader  and  his  men,  "  Pity  me  not.  I  am  hap- 
pier than  you  ;  for  I  am  fighting  to  be  free,  while  you  are  striv- 
ing to  enslave  your  countrymen." 

Thiers  called  Marshal  MacMahon  "the  Bayard  of  our  time." 

CLAUDE    BAZIHE. 

[A  member  of  the  French  Convention,  born  1764  ;  voted  for  the 
death  of  Louis  XVI.  ;  having  become  a  partisan  of  Danton,  was 
executed,  1794.] 

We  have  made  a  compact  with  death. 

When,  in  a  debate  in  the  Convention,  on  foreign  affairs,  he 
was  asked  if  a  treaty  had  been  made  with  victory. 

EARL    OF    BEACONSFIELD. 

[Benjamin  Disraeli,  an  English  statesman  and  author,  born  in  Lon- 
don, 1805  ;  produced  his  first  work,  1826  ;  entered  Parliament,  1837  ; 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  1852,  1858-59,  1866-68;  became  premier 
in  the  latter  year,  and  again  in  1874  ;  raised  to  the  peerage,  1876  ; 
attended  the  Berlin  Congress,  1878  ;  died  April  19",  1881.] 

I  have  begun  several  times  many  things,  and  have 
often  succeeded  at  last.  I  will  sit  down  now,  but 
the  time  will  come  when  you  will  hear  me. 

The  close  of  his  unsuccessful  maiden  speech  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  Dec.  7,  1837,  on  an  Irish-election  petition.  The 
prophecy,  after  its  fulfilment,  became  famous. 

Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  being  told  by  Woodfall  the  printer, 
after  his  first  speech,  which  was  on  a  petition  against  his  election 
for  Stafford,  Nov.  20,  1780,  that  speaking  was  not  in  his  line, 
and  that  he  had  better  stick  to  his  former  pursuits,  rested  his 
head  on  his  hand  a  few  minutes,  and  then  vehemently  exclaimed, 
"  It  is  in  me,  however,  and,  by  G — ,  it  shall  come  out !  " 
MOORE  :  Life,  I.  228. 


40  EAEL   OF  BEACONSFIELD. 

Disraeli's  attempts,  in  1832  and  1835,  to  enter  Parliament  as 
a  radical,  were  unsuccessful.  To  the  electors  of  High  Wycombe 
he  spoke,  in  1831,  of  "  the  people,  —  that  bewildering  title  under 
which  a  miserable  minority  contrive  to  coerce  and  plunder  the 
nation."  At  Taunton,  in  1835,  he  assailed  Daniel  O'Connell, 
who  had  favored  his  candidature  at  High  Wycombe,  and  who 
now  said  of  the  ungrateful  radical,  "  I  cannot  divest  my  mind 
of  the  belief  that  if  this  fellow's  genealogy  were  traced,  it  would 
be  found  that  he  is  the  lineal  descendant  and  true  heir-at-law  of 
the  impenitent  thief  who  atoned  for  his  crimes  upon  the  cross." 

During  this  time  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Xorton  brought  about  an 
interview  between  Disraeli  and  Lord  Melbourne,  who  asked  him 
what  he  really  wanted  to  be.  "  I  want  to  be  prime  minister," 
was  the  unabashed  reply.  When  asked  by  an  elector  of  Taunton, 
after  his  opponent  had  made  a  dull  speech,  upon  what  he  was 
standing  as  a  parliamentary  candidate,  he  answered,  "  Upon  my 
head." 

The  right  honorable  gentleman  [Sir  Robert  Peel] 
caught  the  Whigs  bathing,  and  walked  away  with 
their  clothes. 

In  a  debate  on  the  opening  of  letters  at  the  post-office,  Feb. 
28,  1845.  Disraeli  added,  of  an  assumption  of  Whig  principles 
by  the  Conservative  leader,  "  He  has  left  them  in  the  full  enjoy- 
ment of  their  liberal  position,  and  he  is  himself  a  strict  con- 
servative of  their  garments ; "  and  in  the  same  speech,  "  I  look 
upon  him  as  a  man  who  has  tamed  the  shrew  of  Liberalism  by 
her  own  tactics.  He  is  the  political  Petruchio,  who  has  outbid 
you  all."  The  violence  with  which  Disraeli  attacked  Sir  Robert 
Peel  is  well  known.  Thus,  in  a  debate  on  the  premier's  proposal 
of  an  increased  grant  to  Maynooth  College  in  Ireland,  Disraeli 
said  that  with  him  "  great  measures  are  always  rested  on  small 
precedents :  he  always  traces  the  steam-engine  back  to  the  tea- 
kettle ;  in  fact,  all  his  precedents  are  tea-kettle  precedents." 
And  in  the  same  speech,  "  We  have  a  great  parliamentary 
middle-man.  It  is  well  known  what  a  middle-man  is  :  he  is  a 
man  who  bamboozles  one  party  and  plunders  the  other." 

He  said  of  Peel,  in  the  same  year,  "  Such  a  man  is  no  more  a 
great  statesman  than  the  man  who  gets  up  behind  a  carriage  is 


EARL   OF  BEACONSFIELD.  43 

a  great  whip."     Also,  in  a  speech  on  the  Corn  Importation 
May  5, 1846,  "His  life  has  been  one  great  appropriation  claiit    ^ 
lie  is  a  burglar  of  others'  intellects.     There  is  no  statesman  who 
has  committed  political  petty  larceny  on  so  great  a  scale."     He 
compared  the  conversion  of  Peel's  party  to  the  abolition  of  the 
Corn  Laws,  to  the  Saxons  under  Charlemagne,  "who,  according 
to  the  chronicle,  were  converted  in  battalions,  and  baptized  in 
platoons." 

An  organized  hypocrisy. 

In  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  agricultural  inter- 
ests, March  17,  1845,  Disraeli  said,  "For  me  there  remains  this, 
at  least, --the  opportunity  of  expressing  thus  publicly  my  belief 
that  a  conservative  government  is  an  organized  Irypocrisy."  And 
in  the  same  speech,  "  There  is  a  difference  in  the  demeanor  of 
the  same  individual,  as  leader  of  the  opposition,  and  as  Minister 
of  the  Crown.  You  must  not  contrast  too  strongly  the  hours  of 
courtship  with  the  years  of  possession." 

The  blue  ribbon  of  the  turf. 

Disraeli,  in  his  Biography  of  Lord  George  Bentinck,  gives  an 
account  of  an  interview  with  him  after  Lord  George  had  aban- 
doned horse-racing  for  statesmanship,  and  had  met  a  defeat  in 
Parliament,  as  leader  of  the  Conservative  party,  a  few  days  be- 
fore the  horse  "  Serapis,"  which  he  had  sold,  won  the  Derby : 
"  It  wras  in  vain  to  offer  solace.  He  gave  a  sort  of  stifled  groan. 
'  All  my  life  I  have  been  trying  for  this,  and  for  what  have  I 
sacrificed  it  ?  You  do  not  know  what  the  Derby  is,'  he  moaned 
out.  '  Yes,  I  do :  it  is  the  blue  ribbon  of  the  turf. '  "  It  is  to 
racing  what  the  ribbon  of  the  garter  is  in  social  and  political 
distinction. 

Free  trade  is  not  a  principle  :  it  is  an  expedient. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  alliterative  style  of  his  epigram- 
matic sayings  occurred  in  the  speech  on  the  Maynooth  grant, 
before  alluded  to  :  "  Why,  Hansard  [the  reporter  of  the  Par- 
liamentary Debates],  instead  of  being  the  Delphi  of  Downing 
Street,  is  but  the  Dunciad  of  politics." 


40  EARL  OF  BEACOXSFIELD. 


D:  the  debate  in  answer  to  the  Queen's  speech,  Jan.  24,  1860, 
9v3  said,  "It  is  much  easier  to  be  critical  than  to  be  correct." 
And  at  Oxford,  Nov.  25,  1864,  "I  hold  that  the  characteristic  of 
the  present  age  is  craving  credulity."  "  Time  is  precious,"  he 
said  at  Aylesbury,  Sept.  11,  1865 ;  "  but  truth  is  more  precious 
than  time." 

"  A  precedent,"  he  said  in  a  speech  on  the  Expenditures  of  the 
Country,  Feb.  22,  1848,  "embalms  a  principle." 

"  Figures,"  he  declared,  "  are  not  party  men.  You  may  cross 
the  House,  yet  you  cannot  convert  15,000  tons  into  20,000  tons  " 
(Speech  on  the  Sugar  Duties,  July  28,  1846). 

In  a  speech  on  the  Railway  Bill,  April  22,  1846,  he  noticed 
"  the  sort  of  anxiety  which  seems  to  exist  among  the  members 
of  the  government,  that  it  would  be  generally  supposed  that  they 
had  a  sort  of  partnership  with  Providence." 

Philosophical    ideas   in   opposition   to   political    prin- 
ciple. 

In  a  speech  on  the  expulsion  of  the  British  ambassador  from 
Madrid,  June  5,  1848,  Disraeli  stated  his  objection  to  liberalism 
to  be  this  :  "  that  it  is  the  introduction  into  the  practical  business 
of  life  of  the  highest  kind  —  namely,  politics  —  of  philosophical 
ideas  instead  of  political  principle." 

"There  is  a  great  difference,"  he  once  declared,  "between 
nationality  and  race.  Nationality  is  the  miracle  of  political  in- 
dependence. Race  is  the  principle  of  physical  analogy  "  (Speech 
on  the  Navy  Estimates,  Aug.  9,  1848). 

"  It  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  a  man,  always  studying  one 
subject,  will  view  the  general  affairs  of  the  world  through  the 
colored  prism  of  his  own  atmosphere  "  (Speech  on  Railways-in- 
Ireland  Bill,  Feb.  15,  1847). 

He  called  "  the  memory  of  a  great  name,  and  the  inheritance 
of  a  great  example,  the  legacy  of  heroes  "  (On  the  Address  in 
answer  to  the  Queen's  speech,  Feb.  1,  1849). 

He  quoted  a  great  wrriter,  who  said  that  "  peace  was  beauty 
in  action : "  "I  say  that  justice  is  truth  in  action  "  (Speech  on 
Agricultural  Distress,  Feb.  11,  1851). 


EARL   OF  BEACONSFIELD.  43 

England  does  not  love  coalitions. 

In  a  speech  on  the  Budget,  Dec.  3,  1852,  he  declared  that 
"  coalitions,  although  successful,  have  always  this :  their  tri- 
umph has  been  brief.  This  I  know,  that  England  does  not 
love  coalitions." 

A  gentleman  of  the  press. 

Disraeli  defended,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  1853,  the 
Emperor  Napoleon,  who  was  denounced  for  curtailing  the  free- 
dom of  the  press ;  at  the  same  time  he  denied  that  he  should 
ever  say  or  do  any  thing  himself  to  depreciate  the  influence  or 
diminish  the  power  of  Parliament  or  the  press.  "My  greatest 
honor  is  to  be  a  member  of  this  House,  in  which  all  my  thoughts 
and  feelings  are  concentrated ;  and  as  for  the  press,  I  am  myself 
a  gentleman  of  the  press,  and  have  no  other  escutcheon." 

"A  tu  quoque  argument,"  he  said  in  a  speech  on  the  Prosecu- 
tion of  the  Crimean  War,  May  24,  1855,  "  should  always  be  good- 
humored,  for  it  has  nothing  else  to  recommend  it." 

Addressing  the  House  on  Ways  and  Means,  May  3,  1861,  he 
spoke  of  a  resolution  having  been  carried  by  a  very  small  major- 
ity: "as  it  is  in  its  'teens,'  it  can  hardly  be  called  a  majority 
at  all." 

"  The  history  of  superannuation  in  this  country,"  he  declared, 
"  is  the  history  of  spoliation.  It  is  a  very  short  history,  for  it 
may  be  condensed  in  one  sentence :  You  promised  a  fund,  and 
you  exacted  a  tax  "  (Speech  on  the  Civil  Service  Superannu- 
ation Bill,  Feb.  15,  1856). 

"  Youth  is,  wre  all  know,  somewhat  reckless  in  assertion ;  and 
when  we  are  juvenile  and  curly,  one  takes  a  pride  in  sarcasm  and 
invective  "  (On  the  amendments  to  the  Address  to  the  Queen, 
June  7,  1859). 

A  superior  person. 

In  a  speech  on  a  vote  of  censure  of  the  government,  for  its 
course  towards  Denmark,  July  8, 1864,  Disraeli  characterized  the 
member  for  Stroud,  the  Right  Hon.  Edward  Horsman,  as  "  the 
superior  person  of  the  House  of  Commons." 

In  a  eulogy  of  Richard  Cobden,  April  3,  1865,  he  declared 


44  EARL  OF  BEACONSFIELD. 

that  "  there  are  some  members  of  Parliament,  who,  though  not 
present  in  the  body,  are  still  members  of  the  House  :  independent 
of  dissolution,  of  the  caprice  of  constituencies,  even  of  the  course 
of  time." 

During  the  discussion  in  committee  on  the  Reform  Bill  of 
1867,  Mr.  Beresford  Hope  spoke  of  Disraeli  as  the  "  Asian  Mys- 
tery." "  The  action  of  the  former  while  speaking,"  says  Jen- 
nings ("Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament ''),  and,  it  may  be  added, 
his  descent  from  the  family  of  Hope  of  Amsterdam,  gave  point 
to  Disraeli's  sarcastic  reply :  "  When  he  talks  about  an  Asian 
mystery,'  I  will  tell  him  that  there  are  Batavian  graces  in  all 
he  says,  which  I  notice  with  satisfaction,  and  which  charm  me." 

He  called  Goldwin  Smith  "  an  itinerant  spouter  of  stale  sedi- 
tion." 

In  a  speech  at  the  Mansion  House,  Nov.  9,  1878,  he  said, 
"  The  government  of  the  world  is  carried  on  by  sovereigns  and 
statesmen,  and  not  by  anonymous  paragraph-writers  or  the  hair- 
brained  chatter  of  irresponsible  frivolity." 

He  said  of  Lord  Salisbury,  in  1874,  "  He  is  a  great  master  of 
gibes,  and  pouts,  and  sneers." 

Sanitas  sanitatum. 

In  a  speech  at  the  meeting  of  an  agricultural  society  at  Ayles- 
bury,  in  1864,  he  quoted  the  observation  of  a  very  great  scholar, 
that,  in  his  opinion,  the  declaration  of  the  wisest  of  mankind, 
"  Vanity  of  vanities,  ah1  is  vanity,"  was  not  a  misprint,  but  a 
mistake  of  the  copyist,  and  that  he  believed  that  the  words  were 
not  Vanitas  vanitatum,  omnia  vanitas,  but  Sanitas  sanitatum,  omnia 
sanitas.  This  caused  a  member  of  the  Liberal  party  to  char- 
acterize the  views  of  the  opposition  as  "a  policy  of  sewage." 

Posterity  a  pack-horse. 

Replying  to  Lord  Palmerston,  in  a  debate  on  fortifications 
and  works,  June  3,  1862,  he  accused  the  noble  lord  of  seeming 
to  think  that  "posterity  is  a  pack-horse,  always  ready  to  be 
loaded."  This  reminds  one  of  Sir  Bovle  Roche's  unanswerable 

t 

question  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  "  Why  should  we  legislate  for 
posterity  ?  What  has  posterity  ever  done  for  us  ?  " 


EARL  OF  BEACONSFIELD.  45 

In  reply  to  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  appealed  from  the  judgment 
of  his  critics  to  the  verdict  of  posterity,  Disraeli  said,  "  Very  few 
people  reach  posterity.  Who  among  us  may  arrive  at  that  desti- 
nation, I  presume  not  to  vaticinate.  Posterity  is  a  most  limited 
assembly.  Those  gentlemen  who  reach  posterity  are  not  much 
more  numerous  than  the  planets." 

I  am  on  the  side  of  the  angels. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Oxford  Diocesan  Society  in  1861.  Mr. 
Disraeli  gave  his  viewrs  upon  the  popular  idea  of  Darwinism : 
"  What  is  the  question  which  is  now  placed  before  society,  with 
the  glib  assurance  which  to  me  is  most  astounding  ?  That  ques- 
tion is  this :  Is  man  an  ape,  or  an  angel  ?  I  am  on  the  side  of 
the  angels.  I  repudiate  with  indignation  and  abhorrence  those 
new-fangled  theories." 

Party  is  organized  opinion. 

In  a  speech  at  Oxford,  Nov.  25,  1864. 

During  a  debate  on  the  redistribution  of  seats,  May  14,  1866, 
he  declared,  "Ignorance  never  settles  a  question." 

He  professed,  in  an  address  at  an  agricultural  meeting  at 
Sal  thill,  Oct.  5, 1864,  to  have  learned  what  he  had  often  learned 
before, --"that  you  should  never  take  any  thing  for  granted." 

"  Xobody,"  he  said,  "  ever  acted  on  a  testimonial  who  had  not 
afterwards  cause  to  regret  it"  (Speech  on  a  proposed  pension 
to  Mr.  Young,  an  Irish  poet,  March  22,  1867). 

Assassination  has  never  changed  the  history  of  the 
world. 

(Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  assassination  of 
President  Lincoln,  May,  1865.) 

"Re-action,"  he  said,  "is  the  law  of  life;  and  it  is  the  charac- 
teristic of  the  House  of  Commons "  (On  the  address  in  reply 
to  the  Queen's  Speech,  Feb.  6,  1867).  "Change,"  he  remarked 
at  a  Conservative  banquet  at  Edinburgh,  Oct.  29,  1867,  "change 
is  inevitable  in  a  progressive  country.  Change  is  constant." 


46  EARL   OF  BEACONSFIELD. 

I  had  to  educate  our  party. 

He  spoke  in  the  same  address  (at  the  banquet  in  Edinburgh) 
of  reform,  and  particularly  of  the  bill  passed  under  his  leader- 
ship during  the  administration  of  Lord  Derby;  and  said  of  the 
interval  between  1860  and  the  passage  of  the  act,  "  I  had  to 
prepare  the  mind  of  the  country,  and  to  educate, --if  it  be  not 
arrogant  to  use  such  a  phrase,  —  to  educate  our  party." 

The  Right  Hon.  Robert  LOAVC  said,  after  the  passage  of  the 
bill,  "  We  must  now  at  least  educate  our  masters."  It  was  of 
this  statesman  (Lord  Sherbrooke)  that  Disraeli  declared,  "•  What 
is  more  remarkable  than  his  learning  and  his  logic  is  that  power 
of  spontaneous  aversion  which  particularly  characterizes  him." 
At  another  time  he  called  him  "  an  inspired  schoolboy." 

The  mountains  of  Rasselas. 

In  moving  a  vote  of  thanks  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  Sir 
R.  Xapier's  army  after  the  Abyssinian  campaign  of  1808,  he 
gave  utterance  to  one  of  his  most  florid  periods :  '•  They  brought 
the  elephant  of  Asia  to  convey  the  artillery  of  Europe  to  de- 
throne one  of  the  kings  of  Africa,  and  to  hoist  the  standard  of 
St.  George  upon  the  mountains  of  Rasselas." 

Apologies  only  account  for  -what  they  do  not  alter. 

Speech  on  the  Order  of  Business,  July  28,  1871. 

He  called  the  national  debt  "  a  mere  flea-bite." 

The  Irish  Church  Bill  was  stigmatized  by  him  in  1868,  as 
"  legalized  confiscation  and  consecrated  sacrilege." 

"Parliamentary  speaking,"  he  said,  "like  playing  on  the  fid- 
dle, requires  practice."  (Elections  Bill,  July  13.  1871.) 

Of  ritualism  he  once  said,  "  What  I  do  object  to  is  the  mass 
in  masquerade." 

A  range  of  exhausted  volcanoes. 

In  a  speech  to  the  Conservatives  of  Lancashire,  at  Manchester, 
April  3,  1872,  Disraeli  said,  "  As  I  sat  opposite  the  Treasury 
Bench,  the  ministers  reminded  me  of  one  of  those  marine  land- 
scapes not  very  unusual  on  the  coasts  of  South  America.  You 
behold  a  range  of  exhausted  volcanoes  -  -  not  a  flame  flickers 


EARL  OF  BEACONSFIELD.  47 

on  a  single  pallid  crest,  but  the  situation  is  still  dangerous. 
There  are  occasional  earthquakes,  and,  ever  and  anon,  the  dark 
rumbling  of  the  sea."  In  the  same  speech  he  called  "increased 
means  and  increased  leisure  the  two  civilizers  of  man." 

Mr.  Bright  made  a  humorous  allusion  to  the  conservative 
ministry,  in  a  speech  on  Reform,  at  Birmingham,  in  1SG6.  "  The 
government  of  Lord  Derby  in  the  House  of  Commons,  sitting  all 
in  a  row,  reminds  me  very  much  of  a  number  of  amusing  and 
ingenious  gentlemen  whom  I  dare  say  some  of  you  have  seen 
and  listened  to.  I  mean  the  Christy  Minstrels." 

Of  ministers'  speeches  during  the  recess  of  1872,  Disraeli  said, 
"  Her  Majesty's  ministers  may  be  said  during  the  last  six 
months  to  have  lived  in  a  blaze  of  apology  ; "  and  in  a  letter  to 
Earl  Grey  de  Wilton,  Oct.  3,  1873,  "  For  nearly  five  years  the 
present  ministers  have  harassed  every  trade,  worried  every  pro- 
fession, and  assailed  or  menaced  every  class,  institution,  and 
species  of  property." 

Burning  questions. 

An  expression  first  used  by  Edward  Miall,  M.P.,  a  late  well- 
known  advocate  of  disestablishment,  in  a  letter  to  some  of  his 
political  friends.  Disraeli  appropriated  it  in  a  speech  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  March,  1873,  in  which  he  said  that  the  aris- 
tocratic principle,  the  constitution  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
the  position  of  the  National  Church,  "would  in  due  time  become 
great  and  burning  questions."  The  expression  is,  however,  bor- 
rowed from  the  German.  In  the  preface  of  Hagenbach's 
. "  Grundlinien  cler  Liturgik  und  Homiletik,"  1803,  the 'author 
asks,  "  Who  will  burden  himself  with  your  liturgical  parterre, 
when  the  burning  questions  (brennende  Fragen)  of  the  day  invite 
to  very  different  toils?' 

Peace  with  honor. 

On  his  return  from  the  Berlin  Congress,  July  10,  1878,  Lord 
Beaconsfield  said,  "  Lord  Salisbury  and  myself  have  brought  you 
back  peace — but  a  peace,  I  hope,  with  honor,  which  may  satisfy 
our  sovereign,  and  tend  to  the  welfare  of  the  country." 

Lord  John  Russell  spoke  at  Greenock,  September,  1853,  of  the 


48  EARL   OF  BEACOXSFIELD. 

duty  of  securing  the  rights  of  nations  by  peace,  and  added,  "But, 
•while  we  endeavor  to  maintain  peace,  I  certainly  should  be  the 
last  to  forget,  that,  if  peace  cannot  be  maintained  with  honor,  it 
is  no  longer  peace." 

A  correspondent  of  "Xotes  and  Queries  "  calls  attention  to  a 
singular  similarity  of  expression  in  Fletcher's  "  Queen  of  Cor- 
inth," I.  1:- 

Eraton.  —  The  general  is  returned,  then? 

Neantlies.  —  With  much  honor. 

Sosicles.  —  And  peace  concluded  with  the  place  of  Argos? 

Neantlies.  —  To  the  queen's  wishes. 

Of  the  results  of  the  Berlin  Congress  as  applied  to  Greece, 
Lord  Beaconsfield  said  in  the  House  of  Peers,  July  18,  1878, 
"Greece  has  a  future;  and  I  would  say,  if  I  might  be  permitted, 
to  Greece,  what  I  would  say  to  an  individual  who  has  a  future, — 
1  Learn  to  be  patient.'  " 

Imperium  et  libertas. 

In  a  speech  at  Guildhall,  Nov.  9,  1879,  Lord  Beaconsfield 
said,  "One  of  the  greatest  of  Romans,  when  asked  what  was  his 
politics,  replied,  'Imperiwn  et  libertas.'  That  would  not  make  a 
bad  programme  for  a  British  ministry."  Tacitus  said  of  Xerva, 
"  He  joined  two  things  hitherto  incompatible,  imperium  et  liber- 
tatem." 

He  accused  a  former  secretary  of  foreign  affairs,  the  fifteenth 
Earl  of  Derby,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  March  5,  1881,  of  an 
opposite  principle :  "  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  thing  that 
excites  enthusiasm  in  him  except  when  he  contemplates  the 
surrender  of  some  national  policy." 

The   key   of   India    is  not  at   Candahar:    the  key  of 
India  is  in  London. 

In  the  House  of  Lords,  1881,  on  the  abandonment  of  the 
policy  of  the  previous  (conservative)  administration  in  Afghanis- 
tan. 

You  see  I  never  contradict,  and  I  sometimes  forget. 
When  asked  why  he  was  a  favorite  of  the  Queen. 


THOMAS  A  BECKET.  49 

THOMAS  (I  BECKET. 

[An  English  ecclesiastic,  horn  1117;  Lord  Chancellor,  1158;  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  11(32.  Having  resisted  the  attempt  of  Henry 
II.  to  limit  ecclesiastical  authority,  he  fled  to  France,  but  was  per- 
mitted to  return,  and  continued  to  defy  the  king's  authority,  until 
assassinated,  Dec.  29,  1170.] 

Sit  I  at  the  helm,  and  would  you  have  me  sleep?  (Cla- 
I'um  teneo,  et  ad  somnum  me  vocas  ?) 

Being  advised  to  show  greater  moderation  in  his  controversy 
with  Henry  II.  When,  finally,  the  king  exclaimed,  "  Of  all  the 
cowards  who  eat  mv  bread,  is  there  not  one  who  will  free  me 

v 

from  this  turbulent  priest  ?  "  four  knights  left  his  table,  crossed 
the  channel,  and  attacked  the  archbishop  at  the  foot  of  the  altar 
of  Canterbury  Cathedral.  He  met  them  with  undismayed  front : 
"  In  vain  you  menace  me.  If  all  the  swords  in  England  were 
brandishing  over  my  head,  your  terrors  could  not  move  me." 

HENRY   WARD  BEECHER. 

[An  American  pulpit -orator,  born  in  Litchfield,  Conn.,  1813; 
pastor  of  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn,  from  1847.] 

Doctrine  is  nothing 'but  the  skin  of  truth  set  up  and 
stuffed. 

From  sermons  and  addresses  collected  in  "Life  Thoughts:"  — 

Happiness  is  not  the  end  of  life  :  character  is. 

Mozart  and  Raphael !  as  long  as  the  winds  make  the  air  give- 
sounds,  and  the  sun  paints  the  earth  with  colors,  so  long  shall, 
the  world  not  let  these  names  die. 

"  I  can  forgive,  but  I  cannot  forget,"  is  only  another  way  of 
saying,  "I  cannot  forgive." 

The  truest  self-respect  is  not  to  think  of  self. 

Flowers  are  the  sweetest  things  that  God  ever  made,  and  for- 
got  to  put  a  soul  into. 

What  we  call  wisdom  is  the  result,  not  the  residuum,  of  all  the 
wisdom  of  past  ages. 

Never  forget  what  a  man  says  to  you  when  he  is  angry. 

Anger  is  a  bow  that  will  shoot  sometimes  when  another  feel- 
ing will  not. 


50  LUDWIG  VOX  BEETHOVEN. 

Reason  can  tell  us  how  love  affects  us,  but  cannot  tell  what 
lore  is. 

Refinement  which  carries  us  away  from  our  fellow-men  is  not 
God's  refinement. 

There  is  somebody  to  believe  in  anybody  who  is  uppermost. 

The  mother's  heart  is  the  child's  schoolroom. 

Selfishness  is  that  detestable  vice  which  no  one  will  forgive  in 
others,  and  no  one  is  without  in  himself. 

The  real  man  is  one  who  always  finds  excuses  for  others,  but 
never  for  himself. 

The  elect  are  those  who  will,  and  the  non-elect  those  who  won't. 

Success  is  full  of  promise  till  men  get  it ;  and  then  it  is  a  last- 
year's  nest,  from  which  the  birds  have  flown. 

In  the  morning  we  carry  the  wrorld  like  Atlas ;  at  noon  we 
stoop  and  bend  beneath  it ;  and  at  night  it  crushes  us  flat  to  the 
ground. 

A  cunning  man  overreaches  no  one  half  so  much  as  himself. 

The  philosophy  of  one  century  is  the  common-sense  of  the 
next. 

*  Men  are  called  fools  in  one  age  for  not  knowing  what  they 
were  called  fools  for  averring  in  the  age  before. 

Not  that  which  men  do  worthily,  but  that  they  do  success- 
fully, is  what  history  makes  haste  to  record. 

There  are  many  people  who  think  that  Sunday  is  a  sponge  to 
wipe  out  all  the  sins  of  the  week. 

Some  men  are  like  pyramids,  which  are  very  broad  where  they 
touch  the  ground,  but  grow  narrow  as  they  reach  the  sky. 

LUDWIG  VON  BEETHOVEN. 

[The  celebrated  composer,  born  at  Bonn,  of  Dutch  extraction, 
Dec.  17,  1770;  settled  in  Vienna,  where  from  1802  to  his  death,  in 
March,  1827,  he  produced  the  works  which  attest  the  sublimity  of  his 
genius.] 

I  close  my  eyes  with  the  blessed  consciousness  that  I 
have  left  one  shining  track  upon  the  earth. 

His  last  words.  He  asked,  during  his  last  illness,  his  friend 
and  pupil,  Hummel,  "  Is  it  not  true  that  I  have  some  talent,  after 
all?" 


RICHARD  BENTLEY.  51 

RICHARD  BENTLEY. 

[An  able  critic  and  scholar;  born  in  Yorkshire,  England,  Jan.  27, 
16G2;  educated  at  Cambridge ;  keeper  of  the  royal  library,  It;'.).');  master 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  1700;  degraded  for  extoi'tionate  charges 
for  degrees,  but  restored  by  the  King's  Bench;  died,  July,  1742.] 

No  man  was  ever  written  down  except  by  himself. 

Of  the  literary  conflicts  in  which  he  was  engaged  with  Boyle, 
Atterbury,  Pope,  and  Swift,  caused  by  the  publication  of  his 
"Dissertation  on  the  Letters  of  Phalaris/'  Napoleon  said  at 
St.  Helena,  April  6,  1817:  "None  but  myself  ever  did  me 
any  harm." —  O'MEARA  :  Napoleon  in  Exile.  "  Nothing  can  work 
me  damage,"  remarks  St.  Bernard,  *'  except  myself :  the  harm 
that  I  sustain  I  carry  about  with  me,  and  never  am  a  real  suf- 
ferer but  by  my  own  fault." 

ST.  BERNARD. 

[An  eminent  ecclesiastic;  born  near  Dijon,  1091;  became  abbot  of 
Clairvaux,  near  Langres,  1115;  promoted  the  crusade  of  1146;  died 
1153.] 

Sermons  in  stones. 

St.  Bernard  said  in  a  letter :  "  Trust  to  one  who  has  had 
experience.  You  will  find  something  far  greater  in  the  woods 
than  you  will  find  in  books.  Stones  and  trees  will  teach  you 
that  which  you  will  never  learn  from  masters.  Think  you  not 
you  can  suck  honey  from  the  rock,  and  oil  from  the  flinty  rock  ? 
Do  not  the  mountains  run  sweetness,  the  hills  run  with  milk 
and  honey,  and  the  valleys  stand  thick  with  corn?"  Had  Shake- 
speare read  St.  Bernard  when  he  wrote,  — 

"  And  this  our  life,  exempt  from  public  haunt, 
Finds  tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing  "  ? 

As  You  Like  It,  II.  1. 
Or  Wordsworth,  — 

"  One  impulse  from  a  vernal  wood 

May  teach  you  more  of  man, 
Of  moral  evil,  and  of  good, 
Than  all  the  sages  can  "  ? 

But  Socrates  said,  "Knowledge  is  what  I  love;  and  the  men 
who  dwell  in  towns  are  my  teachers,  not  trees  and  landscape." 


52  FKAXQOIS  DE   BERXIS. 

FRANCOIS  DE  BERNIS. 

[A  Frencli  statesman  and  ecclesiastic;  born  1715;  ambassador  to 
Venice,  and  minister  of  foreign  affairs  under  Lonis  XV.;  cardinal, 
archbishop,  and  ambassador  to  Rome,  where  he  died,  1794.] 

I  will  wait  (tTattendrai). 

His  reply  to  Cardinal  Fleury,  who  had  witnessed  the  irregu- 
larity of  his  early  life,  and  frankly  told  him  at  the  outset  of  his 
career,  "  You  have  nothing  to  expect  during  my  life."  The  favor 
of  Madame  de  Pompadour  raised  the  abbe  to  the  cardinalate 
after  he  had  "  waited  "  for  Fleury's  death. 

When  Cresar  proposed  to  distribute  lands  in  Campania  among 
the  soldiers,  Lucius  Gellius  said  it  should  never  be  done  in  his 
time.  "  Let  us  wait  a  while,"  remarked  Cicero,  "  for  Gellius 
requires  no  very  long  credit." 


ANTOINE  BERRYER. 

[A  French  advocate  and  orator,  of  whose  first  appearance  Boyer- 
Collard  said,  "  This  is  not  merely  a  talent,  it  is  a  power;  "  born  1790; 
deputy,  1830;  member  of  the  Academy,  1852;  opposed  the  coup  d'etat, 
and  retired  from  public  life;  died  1868.] 

I  have  consecrated  my  life  to  the  defence  of  the  old 
alliance  of  royalty  and  liberty. 

The  political  profession  of  faith  of  the  noted  advocate,  who 
was  strongly  attached  to  the  Legitimist  party.  At  another  time 
he  said,  "I  am  a  royalist,  because  I  am  a  patriot." 

A  man  has  always  the  voice  of  his  mind.  A  mind 
clear,  distinct,  firm,  generous,  a  little  disdainful, 
displays  all  these  characteristics  in  its  voice. 

There  are  no  ugly  women :  there  are  only  women  who 
do  not  know  how  to  look  pretty. 

Nothing  was  more  characteristic  of  Berryer  than  gallantry. 

Bankruptcy  or  death. 

When  the  Austrian  Archduke  Maximilian  was  induced  to 
lend  himself  to  the  Emperor  Napoleon's  scheme  of  an  empire 


THOMAS   BETTERTON.  53 

in  Mexico,  Berryer  exclaimed,  "You  are  leading  an  archduke 
from  Austria  to  Mexico :  what  fate  are  you  reserving  for  this 
child  of  your  victories,  — bankruptcy,  or  death  ?  "  On  the  with- 
drawal of  the  French  troops,  the  Emperor  Maximilian  was  shot, 
June  19,  1867. 

THOMAS  BETTERTON. 

[An  English  dramatist,  and  one  of  the  most  popular  actors  of  his 
time;  born  in  Westminster,  1635;  excelled  in  the  roles  of  Othello, 
Macbeth,  and  Hamlet,  and  was  commended  by  Addison,  Pope,  and 
Dryden  ;  died  1710.] 

Actors  speak  of  things  imaginary  as  if  they  were  real, 
while  you  preachers  too  often  speak  of  things  real 
as  if  they  were  imaginary. 

When  asked  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  why  actors 
were  more  successful  in  impressing  their  auditors  than  preach- 
ers. 

BIAS. 

[One  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece;  a  native  of  Priene,  in 
Ionia;  flourished  about  550  B.C.] 

I  carry  all  my  effects  with  me  (Omnia  meet  mecum  porto). 

Cicero,  "  Paradoxa,"  I.,  1,  quotes  the  words,  "Omnia  mecum 
porlo  mea;'  Valerius  Maximus,  "Ego  vero  bona  mca  mecum 
porto."  Seneca  and  Plutarch  have  similar  expressions,  attrib- 
uted by  the  former  to  the  Greek  philosopher  Stilpo,  the  teacher 
of  Zeno.  Phsedrus  ascribes  the  remark  to  Siinonides.  The 
reply  of  Bias,  during  the  siege  of  Priene,  was  given  to  those 
who  were  surprised  to  see  him  making  no  preparations  for  flight; 
and  referred  to  his  wisdom,  his  sole  possession. 

Mile.  Fanny  Bias,  an  opera-singer,  replied  to  a  friend  who 
remarked  that  she  was  leaving  Paris  for  a  journey  with  but 
small  baggage,  by  pointing  to  her  figure  and  face,  sa}'ing,  "Do 
you  not  see,  that,  like  my  illustrious  ancestor,  omnia  mca  mecum 
porto  ?"  —  LAROUSSE  :  Fleurs  Historiques. 

Take  by  persuasion,  not  by  force. 


54  MARQUIS  DE  BIEVRE. 

So  order  your  affairs  as  if  you  were  to  live  long,  or 
die  soon. 

He  reproved  some  sailors  who  were  calling  upon  the  gods  in  a 
storm  by  saying,  "Be  quiet,  lest  the  gods  discover  you  are  here." 

MARQUIS  DE  BIEVRE. 


[A  French  litterateur  and  wit,  born  1747;  published  several  dra- 
mas, and  the  "  Almanac  of  Puns;  "  died  1789.] 

Your  majesty  is  not  a  subject  (Votre  majeste  n'est  pas  un 
sujet). 

To  Louis  XVI.,  who  said  to  him,  "  You,  who  make  puns  on 
everybody,  make  one  on  me." 

When  told  that  the  Abbe  Maury  had  distanced  him  in  a  con- 
test for  a  seat  in  the  French  Academy,  he  replied,  — 

"  Omnia  vincit  Amor,  et  nos  cedamus  amori  "  (a  Maury). 

VIRGIL,  Eclogues,  X.,  69. 

DUG  DE  LAUZUN  DE  BIHON. 

[A  French  general,  born  1747;  fought  in  America;  general-in-chief 
of  the  army  of  the  Rhine,  1793;  insisting  upon  resigning  his  com- 
mand, he  was  executed  Dec.  31,  1793.] 

I  beg  a  thousand  pardons,  my  friend,  but  permit  me 
to  finish  this  last  dozen  of  oysters  (vous  me  permettrez 
bien  encore  une  douzaine  cThultres). 

To  the  executioner's  messenger,  who  surprised  him  at  a 
breakfast  of  oysters  and  white  wine,  and  said  he  was  at  the 
duke's  orders  ;  to  which  the  latter  rejoined,  "  No,  ?noi*bleu,  'tis  just 
the  other  way  :  I  am  at  yours  !  " 

His  execution  occurring  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  in  the  old 
calendar  enabled  him  to  say,  "  I  shall  arrive  in  the  other  world 
in  time  to  wish  my  friends  a  happy  new  year." 

His  last  words  were,  "  I  have  been  false  to  my  God,  to  my 
order,  and  to  my  king:  I  die-  full  of  faith  and  of  repentance" 
(J'ai  etc  infidele  a  mon  Dieu,  a  mon  ordre,  et  d  mon  roi:  je  meurs 
plein  defoi  et  de  repentir). 


PRINCE  YON  BISMARCK.  55 

PRINCE    VON  BISMARCK. 

[Carl  Otto,  Prince  von  Bismarck-  Schonhausen,  a  distinguished 
Prussian  statesman;  born  at  Brandenburg,  1813;  member  of  the 
Diet,  1847;  ambassador  to  St.  Petersburg,  1859;  to  Paris,  1862;  prime 
minister  in  that  year;  chancellor  of  the  North-German  Confedera- 
tion, 1867;  of  the  German  Empire,  1871.] 

Blood  and  iron. 

In  a  letter  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Baron  von  Schleinitz,  the 
Prussian  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  May  12,  1859,  Bismarck 
wrote,  "  I  see  in  our  relations  with  the  Bund  [the  old  German 
Confederation,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  Austria]  a  fault  of 
Prussia's,  which  we  must  cure  sooner  or  later  ferro  et  igne  "  (Ich 
sehe  in  unsernt  Bundesverhaltnisse  ein  Gebrechen  Preussens,  welches 
ivir  frulier  oder  spdter  "ferro  et  igne"  werden  he 'den  musseri). 
This  letter  only  saw  the  light  in  1866,  when  Prussia  applied  the 
cure  to  her  Bund-relation  ferro  et  igne.  He  had  already  made  a 
public  use  of  the  words  in  a  speech  before  the  Budget  Commis- 
sion of  the  Prussian  House  of  Delegates,  Sept.  30,  1862  :  "  It  is 
desirable  and  necessary  that  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Germany 
and  of  her  constitutional  relations  should  be  improved ;  but  it 
cannot  be  accomplished  by  speeches  and  resolutions  of  a  ma- 
jority, but  only  by  iron  and  blood  "  {Die  deutschen  Zustdnde  und 
VerfassungsverlidUnisse  zu  verbessern  ist  wilnschenswerih  und  nolh- 
wendig,  was  jedoch  nicht  durch  ]\lajoritatsl>eschlusse,  Reden,  u.  s.  w., 
sondern  nur  durch  Eisen  und  Blut  bewirkt  werden  kann~).  There 
was,  however,  nothing  original  in  the  expression.  Quintilian 
speaks  of  slaughter  as  meaning  blood  and  iron  (cccdes  videtur 
significare  sanguinem  et  ferruin).  —  Declamationes.  Arndt,  the 
soul-stirrer  of  the  "  War  of  Liberation,"  had  introduced  the 
words  to  a  German  audience,  — 

"  Zwar  der  Tapfere  nennt  sich  Herr  der  Lander 
Durch  sein  Eisen,  durch  sein  Blui." 

Lehre  an  den  Menschen  :  5. 

Schenkendorf,  in  "  Das  Eiserne  Kreuz,"  declared  that  only  iron 
and  blood  could  save  his  countrymen ;  and  Heine,  in  manuscript 
memoranda  found  after  his  death,  anticipated  the  "healing  "  as 
well  as  the  "blood  and  iron  "  in  Bismarck's  letter  to  von  Schlei- 
nitz ;  for  he  said  that  "  Xapoleon  healed  through  fire  and  iron 
the  sick  nation." 


56  PRIXCE  VOX  BISMARCK. 

Somewhat  similar  was  Bismarck's  remark,  expressive  of  his 
dislike  of  political  speeches,  concerning  the  popular  indignation 
excited  by  Manteuffel's  arrangement  with  Austria  during  an 
insurrection  of  the  people  of  Hesse-Cassel  against  the  govern- 
ment in  1850,  "  Better  pointed  bullets  than  pointed  speeches," 
(Lieber  Spitzkugeln  als  Spitzreden}. 

He  used  a  striking  equivalent  for  cannon-balls,  when  speak- 
ing in  Parliament  at  another  time  of  the  insufficiency  of  debates : 
"  The  decision  will  come  only  from  God,  from  the  God  of  battles, 
when  he  lets  fall  from  his  hand  the  iron  dice  of  destiny  " 

Bismarck  denied  on  four  different  occasions,  from  1866  to  1S75, 
the  use  of  the  expression  "Might  before  Right"  ( Maclit  gelit  vor 
Kecht),  which  was  imputed  to  him  in  the  House  of  Deputies  in 
1863. 

In  the  same  debate  in  which  he  used  the  words  "iron  and 
blood,"  he  said,  "  We  have  too  many  critics  of  government,  too 
many  parliamentary  candidates,  too  many  Catilinarian  exist- 
ences "  (zu  viele  catilinarisclie  Existenzen)  :  this  latter  phrase  had 
already  been  employed  as  the  title  of  a  romance  by  Theodore 
Kb'uig  (Breslau,  1854,  "  A  Catilinarian  Existence  "),  being  meant 
in  both  cases  to  express  an  existence  supported  by  conspiracy. 

The  definition  of  a  newspaper-writer,  that  he  is  "  a  man  who 
has  failed  in  his  career,"  although  not  given  in  that  form  by 
Bismarck,  is  derived  from  a  remark  of  his  to  a  deputation  from 
Riigen  to  the  king,  Xov.  10,  1862 ;  to  the  members  of  which  he 
said  a  few  days  previously,  "  An  amicable  relation  between  the 
government  and  the  House  of  Deputies  is  rendered  impossible 
by  the  opposition  press,  which  is  in  the  hands  of  malecontents 
who  have  failed  in  their  career."  "With  this  may  be  compared 
Disraeli's  wTell-known  observation  in  "  Lothair,"  that  "  a  critic  is 
a  man  who  has  failed  in  literature  and  the  arts." 

Only  one  other  saying  belongs  to  this  period  of  Bismarck's 
life,  but  that  is  the  earliest  in  point  of  time  :  it  is  significant  of 
his  own  "Junker"  politics,  and  may  have  recommended  him  at 
the  outset  of  his  career  to  the  favor  of  a  prince  who  was  to 
claim  during  a  long  reign  the  authority  of  divine  right.  Bis- 
marck declared  in  the  Prussian  Parliament  in  18-47,  that  "the 
Prussian  sovereigns  are  in  possession  of  a  crown,  not  by  the 
grace  of  the  people,  but  by  God's  grace." 


PRINCE  VON  BISMARCK.  57 

A  great  unrecognized  Incapacity. 

While  minister  to  Paris  for  a  short  time  in  1862,  he  studied 
the  men  with  whom  he  was  afterwards  to  deal,  and  mystified  the 
official  world  by  his  undiplomatic  frankness.  He  easily  read 
the  character  of  Napoleon  III.,  whose  silence  had  imposed  upon 
the  French  people,  and  of  whom  the  English  ambassador,  Lord 
Cowley,  had  said,  "  He  never  speaks,  and  always  lies  "  (//  ne 
parlejamais,  et  il  ment  toujours).  Events  were  to  prove  the  justice 
of  Bismarck's  verdict,  "  He  is  a  great  unrecognized  Incapacity  " 
(une  grande  incapacity  inconnue) .  It  was  more  accurate  than  the 
judgment  which  the  Prussian's  apparent  levity  caused  the  em- 
peror to  pass  upon  him,  —  "He  is  not  a  serious  man"  (Ce  riest 
pas  un  homme  serieux)  ;  a  judgment  "of  which,"  said  Bismarck, 
"  I  naturally  did  not  remind  him  at  the  weaver's  of  Donchery," 
where,  after  the  battle  of  Sedan,  the  emperor  surrendered  him- 
self to  the  king  of  Prussia,  and  discussed  with  Bismarck  the 
terms  of  capitulation.  Thiers  said  later  of  the  Prussian  chan- 
cellor, "He  is  an  amiable  barbarian  "  (C'est  un  larbare  aimable)\ 
and  Francis  Joseph  of  Austria,  hearing  him  criticised  after  the 
battle  of  Sadowa  had  destroyed  the  hegemony  of  Austria  in  the 
Germanic  Confederation,  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  if  I  had  but  him  !  " 

His  "Junker"  politics,  by  which  is  to  be  understood  the  "high 
and  dry  "  conservatism  of  the  landed  nobility,  is  illustrated  by 
a  remark,  which  he  made  during  this  time  concerning  con- 
stitutional government,  that  it  was  "democracy  in  its  Sunday 
best"  (la  democratic  endimancliee) . 

While  in  Paris,  Bismarck  accused  Thiers  of  sulking  with  his 
friends  and  his  books,  instead  of  taking  that  part  in  public 
affairs,  even  under  the  Second  Empire,  to  which  his  ability  and 
previous  career  would  entitle  him.  "Be  minister,"  said  the 
Prussian,  "and  wre  will  between  us  re-make  the  map  of  Europe." 
When  the  map  of  Europe  wras  re-made  in  1871,  it  was  not 
"between  them,"  in  the  sense  of  1862. 

Even  Bismarck's  slightest  remarks  at  this  time  were  con- 
sidered afterwards  as  prophetic.  Walking  one  day  with  the 
emperor  on  the  terrace  of  St.  Germain,  he  saw  the  dome  of  the 
Invalides  shining  on  the  distant  horizon.  "It  looks,"  he  ob- 
served, "like  a  gilded  Prussian  helmet"  (il  ressemUe  a  un  casque 
prussien  dore). 


58  PRINCE  VON  BISMARCK. 


If  Italy  did  not  exist,  it  would  be  necessary  to  invent 
her. 

To  Chevalier  Nigra,  minister  of  Italy  to  Paris  ;  of  the  tend- 
ency of  Napoleon  III.  to  encourage  Italy,  and  thus,  by  opposing 
Austria,  to  assist  unwittingly  the  purpose  of  Bismarck  to  humble 
the  leader  of  the  Germanic  Confederation,  which  occurred  in 
1866.  The  expression  is  derived  from  a  line  of  Voltaire's,  "  If 
God  did  not  exist,  it  would  be  necessary  to  invent  him"  (Si 
Dieu  n'existait  pas,  ilfaudra.it  I'inventer).  —  Epitre  a  I'Auteur  du 
Livre  des  Trois  Imposteurs.  It  also  occurs  in  a  letter  of  Voltaire 
to  Frederick,  Prince  Royal  of  Prussia.  "Seldom,"  wrote  the 
poet  later,  "  am  I  satisfied  with  my  lines ;  but  I  confess  that  I 
feel  for  this  one  the  tenderness  of  a  father."  A  similar  thought 
occurs  in  a  sermon  of  Archbishop  Tillotson :  "  If  God  were  not 
a  necessary  Being  of  himself,  he  might  almost  seem  to  be  made 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  mankind."  Goethe  declared,  "  If  there 
be  not  a  God,  there  will  be  some  day;  "  that  the  necessity  of  a 
Supreme  Being  must  be  sooner  or  later  acknowledged.  Millaud 
borrowed  Voltaire's  line  in  voting  for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI. : 
"  If  death  did  not  exist  to-day,  it  would  be  necessary  to  invent 
it  "  (Aujourd'hui  si  la  mort  n'existaitpas,  ilfaudrait  I'inventer). 

France  took  no  part  in  the  struggle  which  broke  out  between 
Prussia  and  Austria  in  the  summer  of  1866,  but  hoped  to  gain 
by  it  some  territorial  acquisition,  however  slight,  rather  than 
come  out  of  it  empty-handed.  Some  one  compared  the  policy 
of  Napoleon  III.  to  a  man  who  should  profit  by  an  eruption  of 
Vesuvius  to  boil  an  egg.  Bismarck  accused  France  of  pursuing 
"a  policy  of  pour-boire,"  the  smallest  favor  being  gratefully 
received  (la  France  fait  une  politigue  de  pour-boire}. 

At  the  close  of  the  "six-weeks'  war,"  Prussia  found  herself  at 
the  head  of  the  North-German  Confederation,  which  had  taken 
the  place  of  the  old  Bund.  Bismarck  expressed  the  new  position 
of  Germany  by  saying  in  the  Parliament  of  the  Confederation, 
March  11,  1867,  "  Let  us  put  Germany,  so  to  speak,  into  the 
saddle  !  You  will  see  that  she  can  ride  "  (Setzen  wir  Deutschland, 
so  zu  sac/en,  in  den  Sattel !  Reiten  wird  es  schon  konneii).  Of 
similar  character  was  the  reply  of  the  Liberal  leader,  Herr 
Lasker,  to  Bismarck,  in  the  Reichstag,  session  of  1881,  "Ger- 
many has  reached  her  majority." 


PRINCE  YON  BISMARCK.  59 


The  chancellor  said  in  the  Zoll  Parliament,  May  18,  1868, 
"An  appeal  to  fear  never  finds  an  echo  in  German  hearts" 
(Ein  Appell  an  die  Furcht  Jindet  im  deutschen  Herzen  niemals  ein 
Echo). 

"Liberalism,''  he  once  declared,  "is  only  nonsense,  which 
it  is  easy  to  bring  to  reason ;  but  revolution  is  a  force  which  it 
is  necessary  to  know  how  to  use." 

In  1862,  during  a  struggle  between  the  Prussian  parliament 
and  the  government,  he  showed  that  he  had  in  mind  the  fate  of 
Straff ord  after  a  resort  to  force,  by  saying,  "  Death  on  the  scaf- 
fold under  certain  circumstances  is  as  honorable  as  death  on  the 
battle-field." 

Some  deviations  from  strict  veracity  led  Bismarck  to  declare 
in  the  Prussian  Upper  House,  Feb.  13,  1869,  "  It  will  soon  come 
to  be  said,  'He  lies  like  the  telegraph.'1  Napoleon's  bulletins, 
especially  those  from  the  Russian  campaign,  made  "  To  lie  like 
a  bulletin"  a  proverbial  expression. 

I  am  going  to  let  Paris  stew  in  her  own  gravy. 

Attributed  to  Bismarck  during  the  siege  of  Paris,  1870-71. 
The  Duke  of  Alva  asserted  that  the  Low  Countries  were  fat 
enough  to  be  stewed  in  their  own  liquor.  Bismarck  may  have 
thought  of  a  French  proverb,  "  cuire  dans  son  t/ws,"  and  of  the 
remark  of  a  great  epicurean  at  dinner,  that  "  with  such  a  gravy 
one  could  eat  his  own  father  "  (avec  une  pareille  sauce  on  man- 
gerait  son  pere).  In  Ward's  "London  Spy,"  IX.,  p.  219,  1709, 
quoted  in  "  Notes  and  Queries,"  a  writer  describes  a  bath  at  the 
Hummums,  Covent  Garden :  "  The  landlord  relieved  us  out  of 
our  purgatory  (the  tepidarium),  and  carried  us  to  our  own  dress- 
ing-rooms, which  gave  us  much  refreshment  after  we  had  been 
stewing  in  our  own  gravy."  Shakespeare  speaks  of  "melting 
Falstaif  in  his  own  grease  "  ("  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor,"  II.  1)  ; 
and  Chaucer,  - 

"  That  in  his  owen  grise  I  made  him  frie." 

Wife  of  Bath. 

We  find  many  sayings  attributed  to  Bismarck  during  the 
memorable  campaign  of  1870-71.  The  pretext  for  war  was 
found  in  the  suggestion  by  Prussia  of  Prince  Leopold  of  Hohen- 


60  PRINCE  VON  BISMARCK. 

zollern  as  a  suitable  candidate  for  the  throne  of  Spain :  his 
hesitation  and  subsequent  refusal  of  the  honor  prompted  Bis- 
marck to  say  contemptuously,  "  A  sub-lieutenant  does  not  have 
the  offer  of  a  crown  every  day"  (On  n'ojfre pas  tons  les  jours  une 
couronne  a  un  sous-lieutenant}* 

Busch  in  his  gossipy  book,  "  Bismarck  und  Seine  Leute," 
records  many  of  the  chancellor's  mots  during  this  time.  Thus 
he  said  one  day  concerning  religion,  during  his  table-talk, 
"Were  I  no  longer  a  Christian,  I  would  not  remain  at  my  post 
an  hour '  ( Wenn  ich  nicht  melir  Christ  ware,  bliebe  ich  keine 
Stunde  melir  auf  meinem  Posten)  ;  and  again,  "  Take  away  my 
connection  with  and  relationship  to  God  (den  Zusammenlmny  mil 
Gott),  and  I  should  pack  up  to-morrow,  and  return  to  sow  oats  at 
Varzin." 

He  expressed  his  contempt  for  worldly  considerations,  "  Or- 
ders and  titles  do  not  attract  me"  (reizen  micli  ni.cht).  It  was 
remarked  when  he  was  younger  that  he  often  wore  a  simple 
medal  as  his  decoration.  Asked  the  reason  of  this  modest  dis- 
play, he  replied,  <k  I  am  in  the  habit  of  sometimes  saving  a 
man's  life."  It  was  the  Prussian  Safety  Medal,  given  to  reward 
attempts  to  rescue  drowning  persons,  etc. 

The  struggle  which,  even  in  1870,  had  declared  itself  between 
himself  and  the  Ultramontanes,  prompted  him  to  say  of  some 
sharp  retaliatory  measure,  "  I  am  accustomed  to  pay  men  back  in 
their  own  coin  "  (Ich  bin  yewohnt  in  die  Miinze  wiederzuzahlen, 
in  dem  man  micli  bezahlt) .  Thus  Sulla  wrote  as  his  own  epitaph, 
"  No  man  ever  did  me  so  much  good,  or  enemy  so  much  harm, 
but  I  repaid  him  with  interest." 

Other  sayings  relate  to  the  French,  during  the  march  to  Paris 
and  the  subsequent  siege.  Thus  he  declared  Apollo  to  be  the 
true  type  of  a  Frenchman,  "who  will  not  own  that  another 
plays  the  flute  better  or  even  so  well  as  himself." 

The  barbarous  conduct  of  the  French  soldiers,  many  of  them 
brought  from  Algiers,  caused  him  to  paraphrase  Napoleon's 
famous  mot,  "  Scratch  a  Russian,  and  you  will  find  a  Tartar :  " 
"  Strip  off  the  wThite  skin  from  such  a  Gaul,  and  you  will  find  a 
Turco  "  (Zieht  man  einem  solchen  Gallier  die  weisse  Haul  ab,  so  hat 
man  einen  Turco  vor  sich). 

In  discussing  with  Jules   Favre,  in   1871,  the   terms   of   the 


PRIXCE   VOX  BISMARCK.  Gl 

surrender  of  Paris,  Bismarck  said  that  in  politics  personal 
preferences  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  public  good,  rather  than 
forced  upon  the  country,  which  "  should  be  served,  not  coerced  " 
(/«  patrie  veut  elre  sercie  et  pas  dominee),  Busch  says  that  this 
observation  made  a  great  impression  upon  Favre,  who  replied, 
"  C'est  bien  juste,  monsieur  le  comte,  c'est  profond ; "  and  then 
littered  what  Busch  characterizes  as  a  betise,  "  Still  it  is  a  fine 
sight  to  see  a  man  who  has  never  changed  his  principles."  Bel- 
montet,  a  French  WTiter,  declares,  on  the  other  hand,  "  The 
absurd  man  is  he  who  never  changes." 

When  two  hundred  million  francs  were  offered  as  an  indem- 
nity, together  with  the  surrender  of  Paris,  Bismarck  observed, 
"  Paris  is  too  great  a  personage  that  we  should  treat  it  in  so 
shabby  a  manner :  let  us  do  it  the  honor  of  a  milliard "  (one 
thousand  millions). 

During  the  negotiations  for  peace  after  the  fall  of  Paris, 
M.  Thiers  complained  that  Bismarck  insisted  upon  speaking 
German,  which  the  French  statesman  did  not  understand.  The 
chancellor  explained  it  by  saying,  "  When  I  discuss  with  men 
with  whom  I  expect  to  come  ultimately  to  an  understanding,  I 
speak  their  language ;  but  when  I  see  that  it  is  useless  to  discuss 
with  them,  I  speak  my  own." 

We  are  not   going   to    Canossa  (Nach   Canossa  gehen  wir 
nicht). 

In  the  German  Reichstag,  May  14,  1872;  of  the  struggle  be- 
tween the  clerical  or  Ultramontane  party,  and  the  government, 
which  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  laws  proposed  by  Dr.  Falk, 
minister  of  education  and  worship,  hence  called  "  the  Falk 
Laws."  They  prohibited  the  exercise  of  ecclesiastical  functions 
by  persons  appointed  by  the  Pope  but  disapproved  by  the  State, 
or  by  persons  who  refused  to  take  the  required  oaths  before  the 
civil  authority.  The  parliamentary  struggle  was  known  as  the 
Kulturkampf,  or  "  culture-contest,"  an  expression  which  was  first 
used  by  Professor  Virchow,  deputy  from  Berlin,  in  an  electoral 
programme  of  the  Progressist  party,  of  which  he  is  a  distinguished 
member :  he  afterwards  explained  it  by  saying  that  the  contest 
was  not  merely  a  religious  one,  but  involved  man's  entire  intel- 
lectual and  moral  culture.  The  allusion  to  Canossa  in  Bismarck's 


62  PRINCE  VON  BISMARCK. 

mot  indicated  his  intention  of  not  yielding  to  the  clerical  party. 
It  referred  to  the  celebrated  penance  of  the  emperor  Henry  IV. 
during  the  struggle  for  supremacy  between  Germany  and  Rome. 
The  emperor  replied  to  a  summons  to  appear  at  Rome  to  answer 
charges  of  misgovernment,  by  deposing  the  Supreme  Pontiff. 
Gregory  VII.  then  excommunicated  Henry,  and  fixed  a  day, 
when,  if  still  unrepentant,  he  should  cease  to  reign.  Deserted 
by  his  subjects,  the  emperor  was  compelled  to  accept  the  Pope's 
terms;  and,  crossing  the  Alps,  he  appeared  in  the  dead  of  winter 
before  the  gates  of  the  castle  of  Canossa,  among  the  mountains 
of  Modena,  in  Italy.  Knocking  at  the  door,  and  admitted  within 
the  gate,  he  waited  in  the  space  between  the  first  and  second 
walls,  standing  barefooted  in  the  snow,  and  fasted  until  evening. 
He  returned  on  each  of  the  two  following  days  to  the  same  place; 
and  only  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day,  Jan.  25,  1077,  was 
he  admitted  to  the  Pope's  presence,  where  he  swore  to  be  faithful 
to  the  command  of  the  Church.  "  That  one  scene,"  says  Bryce, 
"was  enough  to  mark  a  decisive  change,  and  inflict  an  irretrieva- 
ble disgrace  on  the  crown  so  debased.  Its  wearer  could  no  more 
claim  to  be  the  highest  power  on  earth."  —  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
The  struggle  for  the  right  of  appointment  to  sees  within  the 
dominions  of  secular  princes,  which,  being  repeated  in  1872,  gave 
point  to  Bismarck's  refusal  to  imitate  the  example  of  Henry  IV., 
lasted  far  beyond  the  lives  of  the  original  parties  to  the  contest. 
Henry  died  miserably,  dethroned  by  a  son  whom  the  Pope's 
hatred  of  the  emperor  had  raised  in  rebellion.  Twenty  years 
previously,  in  1085,  Ilildebrand  passed  away  at  Salerno,  bitterly 
exclaiming  with  his  latest  breath,  "I  have  loved  justice,  and 
hated  iniquity:  therefore  I  die  in  exile"  (clilexi justitiam,  et  odivi 
iniquitalem  ;  propterea  morior  in  exilioj. 

In  1877  a  monument,  called  the  "Bismarck  Stone,"  containing 
a  likeness  of  the  chancellor  in  bas-relief,  and  the  words  "  Nach 
Canossa  yelien  wir  nicht"  was  erected  by  private  subscription  on 
the  spot  near  Warzburg,  where  Henry  IV.  took  the  road  to  Italy. 
The  appointment,  however,  in  1882,  of  Herr  von  Schlozer  to  be 
Prussian  minister  at  the  Vatican,  together  with  such  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  Falk  Laws  as  would  indicate  a  cessation  of  the  Kul- 
turkampf,  on  terms  not  to  have  been  expected  in  1872,  prompted 
the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  Liberal  journals  of  Berlin,  "  All 
change  here  for  Canossa." 


COUNTESS   OF  BLESSINGTON.  63 

Beati  possidentes  f 

The  full  sentence  is,  "  Beati  in  jure  con sentur  possidentes."  It  is 
contained  in  commentaries  on  the  civil  law,  and  is  equivalent  to, 
"Possession  is  nine  points  of  the  law."  With  this  meaning  it 
was  applied  by  Prince  Bismarck  to  the  status  of  the  Christian 
provinces  of  Turkey  after  the  war  with  Russia,  and  especially  to 
the  occupation  of  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina  by  Austria.  Mr. 
Gladstone  said  in  an  interview  with  the  correspondent  of  a 
German  newspaper  in  1880,  "  Whoever  understands  the  meaning 
of  the  English  phrase,  'Hands  off!'  will  be  able  to  understand 
my  line  of  policy  towards  the  liberated  Slavic  population."  He 
wished  them  to  build  up  their  states  without  foreign  occupation : 
Bismarck  would  have  encouraged  their  development  as  provinces 
of  that  empire  to  which  the  Treaty  of  Berlin  had  assigned  them. 

When,  in  1875,  there  was  question  of  the  intervention  of 
Germany  in  the  struggle  between  the  Christian  provinces  and 
Turkey,  which  finally  led  to  the  Russo-Turkish  war,  Bismarck 
declared  that  "  the  Herzegovina  question  is  not  worth  the  bones 
of  a  Pomeranian  fusileer  "  (V affaire  Herzeyovinienne  ne  vaut  pas 
les  os  d'unfusile'er  pome'ranien). 

COUNTESS  OF  BLESSINGTON. 

[An  Irish  lady,  celebrated  for  her  beauty  and  accomplishments; 
born  1780;  on  the  death  of  her  husband  she  removed  to  London, 
where  her  house  was  for  many  years  the  resort  of  literati  and  Euro- 
pean celebrities ;  died  1849.] 

When  the  sun  shines  on  you,  you  see  your  friends.    It 
requires  sunshine  to  be  seen  by  them  to  advantage. 

"  Like  summer  friends, 
Flies  of  estate  and  sunneshine." 

GEORGE  HERBERT  :  The  Answer. 

Lady  Blessington  also  said,  "  Friends  are  the  thermometers  by 
which  we  may  judge  the  temperature  of  our  fortunes." 

Prince  Louis  Napoleon,  on  his  election  to  the  presidency  of  the 
French  Republic  in  1849,  did  not  invite  Lady  Blessington  to  the 
Tuileries,  although  he  had  often  been  entertained  by  her  in 
London.  Meeting  her  one  day  in  the  Champs  Elysees,  he 
asked  if  she  expected  to  remain  long  in  Paris  (Comptez-vous 
rester  id  longtempsf).  To  which  her  cool  reply  was,  "And 
you  ?  "  (Et  vous  ?) 


64  NICHOLAS  BOILEAU. 

Many  minds  that  have  withstood  the  most  severe 
trials  have  been  broken  down  by  a  succession  of 
ignoble  cares. 

This  and  the  following  are  from  Lady  Blessington's  Common- 
place Book. 

There  is  no  knowledge  for  which  so  great  a  price  is  paid  as  a 
knowledge  of  the  world ;  and  no  one  ever  became  an  adept  in  it 
except  at  the  expense  of  a  hardened  or  a  wounded  heart. 

Men  can  pity  the  wrongs  inflicted  by  other  men  on  the  gentler 
sex,  but  never  those  which  they  themselves  inflict. 

A  beautiful  woman  without  fixed  principles  may  be  likened  to 
those  fair  but  rootless  flowers  which  float  in  streams,  driven  by 
every  breeze. 

Love-matches  are  made  by  people  who  are  content,  for  a 
month  of  honey,  to  condemn  themselves  to  a  life  of  vinegar. 
[It  was  Dr.  Johnson's  opinion  that  "  only  a  weak  man  marries 
for  love."] 

A  knowledge  of  the  nothingness  of  life  is  seldom  acquired 
except  by  those  of  superior  minds. 

Religion  converts  despair,  which  destroys,  into  resignation, 
which  submits. 

NICHOLAS  BOILEAU. 

[A  celebrated  French  poet  and  satirist,  called  by  Mathieu  Marais, 
"Reason  Incarnate;"  born  1636;  member  of  the  French  Academy; 
published  "  The  Art  of  Poetry,"  1674;  appointed,  with  Racine,  histo- 
riographer, by  Louis  XIV.;  died  1711.] 

I  only  know  three,  —  Corneille,  Moliere,  and  myself. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  how  many  great  writers  the  age  of 
Louis  XIV.  had  produced.  "And  how  about  Racine?"  was 
asked.  "  He  was  an  extremely  clever  fellow,  whom  I  taught 
with  great  difficult}"  to  write  verse."  Madame  de  Genlis,  a  cele- 
brated French  writer  (1746-1830),  is  credited  with  a  similarly 
egotistical  remark,  "Madame  de  Stael  was  not  lacking  in  imagi- 
nation :  I  could  have  made  something  of  her  if  I  could  have 
tauq;ht  her  to  write."  Buffon  said,  "Read  only  the  works  of 

O  v 

men  of  genius  :  these  are  but  few,  —  Newton,  Bacon,  Leibnitz, 
Montesquieu,  and  I." 


NICHOLAS  BOILEAU.  65 

I  have  always  observed  that  a  man's  faults  are  brought 
forward  whenever  he  is  waited  for  (J'ai  remarque  que 
ceux  qui  attendent  ne  songent  qu'aux  defauts  de  ceux  qui  se  font 
attendre). 

The  reason  he  gave  for  his  habitual  punctuality.  It  naturally 
suggests  the  French  proverb,  "  Les  absents  ont  toujours  tort " 
(The  absent  are  always  wrong). 

» 

Your  majesty  is  always  lucky:  you  will  not  find  him. 

To  Louis  XIV.,  who  said  he  was  looking  everywhere  for 
Antoine  Arnauld,  the  theologian  and  leader  of  the  Port  Royal- 
ists, then  in  hiding.  In  this  way  Boileau  delicately  expressed  his 
disapproval  of  the  persecution  of  the  Jansenists  of  Port  Royal. 
It  was  this  member  of  the  celebrated  family  of  writers  and 
ecclesiastics,  male  and  female,  who,  when  urged  to  rest  from  his 
labors,  replied,  "  Shall  I  not  have  all  eternity  to  rest  in  ? " 
(N'aurai-je  pour  me  reposer  I'eternite  entiere  f)  Another  version 
is  sometimes  given  of  the  answer  of  the  "  Great  Arnauld/* 
whose  genius  was  described  by  Fontenelle  as  that  of  a  military 
commander.  His  companion-in-arms,  Nicolle,  of  a  more  peace- 
ful and  accommodating  disposition,  once  avowed  that  he  was 
tired  of  theological  controversy,  and  wished  to  rest;  to  which 
Arnauld  impetuously  replied,  "  Will  you  not  have  eternity  to 
rest  in  ?  " 

Boileau  allowed  himself  an  uncourtier-like  freedom  of  speech 
towards  le  Grand  Monarque ,  for  when  the  king  once  asked  him 
to  criticise  some  verses  from  the  royal  pen,  the  poet  returned 
them  with  the  remark,  "  Nothing  is  impossible  with  your  maj- 
esty: you  wished  to  make  a  bad  poem,  and  you  succeeded.'* 
"Boileau  had  the  spirit,"  says  Macaulay,  "to  tell  Louis  XIV. 
firmly,  and  even  rudely,  that  his  majesty  knew  nothing  about, 
poetry." 

On  another  occasion,  he  expressed  his  agreement  with  the 
king,  who  maintained  that  the  words  gros  and  grand  were  not 
synonymous,  by  saying,  "  I  am  certainly  of  your  majesty's  opin- 
ion :  there  is  a  great  difference  between  Louis  le  Gros  and  Louis 
le  Grand "  (or,  as  would  be  said  in  English,  between  Louis 
"the  Fat,"  the  soubriquet  of  Louis  VI.,  and  Louis  "the  Great," 
the  designation  of  Louis  XIV.). 


66  VISCOUNT  BOLIXGBROKE. 

He  showed  the  same  freedom  with  the  king's  cousin,  the  Due 
d'Orleans,  who  invited  him  to  dine  on  a  Friday.  The  poet  ate 
nothing  but  bread ;  but  the  duke,  saying  that  the  servants  had 
forgotten  the  day,  urged  him  to  eat  meat  with  the  rest.  "  You 
have  only  to  stamp  your  foot,"  replied  the  poet,  "  and  fish  would 
start  from  the  ground."  When  Pompey  was  advised  to  make 
further  levies  against  Caesar  (B.C.  50),  he  declared  that  he  "had 
only  to  stamp  with  his  foot,  when  the  occasion  required,  to  raise 
legions  from  the  soil  of  Italy." 

It   is   a   great   consolation   to   a   dying  poet   to   have 
never  written  any  thing  against  morality. 

Thus  Fontenelle  said  at  the  close  of  his  long  life,  "I  was 
born  a  Frenchman.  I  have  lived  one  hundred  years,  and  I  die 

•/ 

with  the  consolation  of  never  having  thrown  the  slightest  ridi- 
cule upon  the  smallest  virtue."  Voltaire,  when  a  candidate  for 
the  French  Academy,  declared,  "  If  ever  a  page  has  been  printed 
in  my  name,  which  could  scandalize  the  sacristan  of  my  parish, 
I  am  ready  to  tear  it  to  pieces  in  his  presence."  Sir  Walter 
Scott  was  comforted  by  the  thought,  "  I  have  tried  to  unsettle 
no  man's  faith,  to  corrupt  no  man's  principles,  and  have  written 
nothing  which  on  my  death-bed  I  should  wish  blotted." 

Boileau  said  to  a  playwright  who  brought  him  a  play  shortly 
before  the  death  of  the  great  critic,  "  Do  you  wish  to  hasten  niy 

last  hour?" 

• 

VISCOUNT  BOLINGBROKE. 

[Henry  St.  John,  an  English  statesman  and  writer,  born  1678  ; 
secretary  for  war,  1704;  secretary  of  state,  1710;  prime  minister,  1714; 
on  the  death  of  Queen  Anne  in  that  year,  and  the  failure  of  his 
attempt  to  restore  the  Stuarts,  he  escaped  to  France;  returned  1723; 
died  1751 .] 

It  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  devise  good  laws :  the  diffi- 
culty is  to  make  them  effective. 

He  wrote  of  the  House  of  Commons,  in  a  letter  to  Sir  William 
Wyndham  :  "  You  know  the  nature  of  that  assembly :  they  grow 
like  hounds,  fond  of  the  man  who  shows  them  game,  and  by 
whose  halloo  they  are  used  to  be  encouraged."  Of  the  mass  of 


CHARLES   BONAPARTE.  67 

mankind  he  had  no  high  opinion.  "The  great  mistake,"  he 
asserted,  "  is  that  of  looking  upon  men  as  virtuous,  thinking 
they  can  be  made  so  by  laws  ;  and  consequently  the  greatest  act 
of  a  politician  is  to  render  vices  serviceable  to  the  cause  of 
virtue." 

We  see  for  use,  not  for  curiosity. 

Mme.  de  Bawr,  a  French  writer  of  romances,  when  asked  by 
Ducis  why  she  lived,  replied,  "  I  live  from  curiosity  ''  (Je  vis  par 
curiosite). 

We  can  only  reason  from  what  is :  we  can  reason  on 
actualities,  but  not  on  possibilities. 

Pope,  who  put  Bolingbroke's  philosophy  into  verse,  asks, — 

"  What  can  we  reason  but  from  what  we  know  ?  " 

Essay  on  Man,  I.,  18. 

There  is  so  much  trouble  in  coming  into  the  world, 
and  so  much  more,  as  well  as  meanness,  in  going- 
out  of  it,  that  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  be  here  at 
all. 

CHARLES  BONAPARTE. 

[Father  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte;  lawyer  and  patriot  soldier;  born 
in  Corsica,  1756;  died  1785.] 

Pew  nations  have  attained  the  blessings  of  liberty, 
because  few  have  had  energy,  courage,  and  virtue 
to  deserve  them. 

In  a  speech  before  a  popular  assembly,  when  it  was  proposed 
that  Corsica  should  submit  to  France.  He  was  then  not  more 
than  twenty  years  of  age.  Paoli  said  to  him,  when  remarking 
his  energy  and  decision  of  character,  "  O  Bonaparte !  you  do 
not  resemble  the  moderns :  you  belong  only  to  the  heroes  of 
Plutarch ! " 

Barbaroux  spoke  of  Corsica  in  1790,  as  a  possible  resort  of 
French  patriots,  "where  neither  Genoese  nor  French  have  been 
able  to  naturalize  t}^ranny ;  which  needs  but  hands  to  be  fertile, 
and  philosophers  to  be  enlightened." 


68  BONIFACE  VIII. 


BONIFACE    VIII. 

[Benedetto  Gaetani,  born  at  Anagni  about  1228;  succeeded  Celes- 
tine  V.  as  Pope  of  Rome,  1294;  became  involved  in  a  contest  with 
Philip  the  Fair  of  France,  whom  he  excommunicated,  and  by  whom 
he  was  imprisoned;  died  soon  after  his  release,  1303.] 

Silence  gives  consent. 

A  favorite  motto  of  the  Pope,  which  he  derived  from  the 
Canon  Law,  "  Qui  facet,  consentire  videtur." —  Decretals,  Book  V., 
12,  43. 

PIERRE  BOSQUET. 

[A  French  general,  born  at  Pau,  1810;  a  general  of  division  in  the 
Crimean  war;  marshal  of  France,  1856;  died  1862. J 

It  is  magnificent,  but  it  is  not  war  (C'est  magnifique,  mais 
ce  n'est  pas  la  guerre.) 

Of  the  charge  of  the  Light  Brigade  at  Balaklava,  Oct.  25, 
1854.  About  twelve  thousand  Russians  had  taken  some  feebly 
defended  redoubts,  and  then  attacked  the  British,  by  whom  they 
were  obliged  to  retire.  After  this,  from  an  unfortunate  miscon- 
ception of  the  order  of  the  commander-in-chief,  Lord  Raglan, 
Lord  Lucan,  commanding  the  cavalry,  ordered  the  Earl  of  Car- 
digan, with  the  light  cavalry,  to  charge  the  Russian  army,  which 
had  reformed  on  its  own  ground  with  its  artillery  in  front. 
The  order  was  gallantly  obeyed,  and  great  havoc  was  made  with 
the  enemy;  but  of  six  hundred  and  seventy  British  cavalrymen, 
only  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  returned.  Tennyson  immor- 

t/  v  O  i/ 

talized  the  action  in  "  The  Charge  of  the  Light  Brigade ; ''  and 
Disraeli  called  it  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  a  motion  for  a 
vote  of  thanks  to  the  allied  army,  Dec.  15,  1855,  "a  feat  of 
chivalry,  fiery  with  consummate  courage,  and  bright  with  flash- 
ing valor." 

JACQUES  BOSSUET. 

[A  French  pulpit-orator  and  controversalist,  born  at  Dijon,  1627; 
bishop  of  Condom,  1669;  preceptor  to  the  dauphin,  1670;  bishop  of 
Meaux,  1681;  died  1701.] 


JACQUES  BOSSUET.  69 

No  man  is  more  easily  deceived  than  he  who  hopes^ 
for  he  aids  in  his  own  deceit. 

The  maxim,  "  Mundus  vult  decipi,  ergo  decipiatur  "  (The  world 
wishes  to  be  deceived,  let  it  therefore  be  deceived),  is  ascribed 
by  Zincgref,  "  German  Apothegms,"  to  the  papal  legate  Caraffa, 
afterwards  Paul  IV.  Its  German  equivalent,  >"  Die  Welt  will 
beirogen  sein,"  was  already  a  common  expression,  which  finds  fre- 
quent quotation  in  Luther,  and  was  in  Goethe's  mind  when  he 
said,  "Man  is  never  deceived:  he  deceives  himself." 

The  princess  had  all  the  virtues  with  which  hell  is 
filled  (toutes  les  vertus  dont  Uenfer  est  rempli). 

Sermon  on  the  death  of  Anne  de  Gonzaga  de  Cleves,  Princess 
Palatine,  1684;  who  was  converted  at  fifty-six,  after  a  life  of 
political  and  personal  intrigue,  during  which  she  said  that  the 
greatest  miracle  would  be  her  conversion  to  Christianity.  The 
saying,  "  Hell  is  paved  with  good  intentions,"  quoted  from  Dr. 
Johnson  by  Boswell  ("  Life,"  1775),  is  referred  in  a  note  to 
George  Herbert,  "  Hell  is  full  of  good  meanings  and  wishes  " 
(Jacula  Frudentum,  1651,  p.  11).  The  Germans  have  a  proverb, 
*' Der  Weg  zur  Holle  ist  mil  cjuien  Vorsdtzen  gepflastert;"  and  St. 
Francis  de  Sales  attributes  to  St.  Bernard,  "  Hell  is  full  of  good 
intentions  and  wills." 

Bossuet  said  of  the  retirement  of  Mine,  de  la  Valliere  to  a 
convent,  "  The  world  itself  makes  us  sick  of  the  world." 

Well-meant  ignorance  is  a  grievous  calamity  in  high 
places. 

Goethe  says,  "Nothing  is  more  terrible  than  active  ignorance." 

The  heart  has  reasons  that  reason  does  not  under- 
stand. 

A  marginal  note  in  a  sermon  on  brotherly  love  contains  the 
words,  "  We  cannot  love  our  neighbor  without  loving  God"  (On 
ne  peut  jamais  aimer  son  prochain  sans  aimer  Dieu}. 

When  God  intends  to  show  that  any  work  is  only  his, 
he  lets  helplessness  and  despair  overpower  us,  and 
then  he  acts. 


70  LOUIS   BOURDALOUE. 

LOUIS  BOURDALOUE. 

[A  French  pulpit-orator,  preacher  to  Louis  XIV.;  born  1632;  died 
1704.] 

In  his  church  thieves  give  up  the  purses  they  stole  in 
mine. 

Louis  XIV.  having  asked  Bourdaloue  what  he  thought  of 
Pere  Honore,  a  Capuchin  who  preached  at  St.  Antoine,  he  re- 
plied, "  Sire,  Pere  Honore  scorches  the  ears  and  tears  the  heart : 
at  his  sermons  thieves  return  the  purses  they  stole  in  mine" 
(a  ses  sermons  on  rend  les  bourses  que  Von  a  couptes  aux  miens). 

The  great  Conde  could  not  separate  himself  from  thoughts  of 
war,  even  in  church.  Going  one  day  with  his  sister,  the  Duchess 
de  Longueville,  to  hear  Bourdaloue  preach  at  St.  Sulpice,  and 
noticing  when  the  orator  entered  the  pulpit  that  his  sister  was 
asleep,  he  woke  her  with  the  exclamation,  "  Wake  up,  sister, 
here  comes  the  enemy!  "  (Alerte,  ma  sceur,  void  Vennemi!) 

BRENNUS. 

[A  chief  of  the  Gaulish  tribe  of  the  Senones ;  invaded  the  Roman 
State  about  390  B.C.:  having  entered  Rome,  he  found  the  city  de- 
serted, except  by  some  aged  senators,  who  were  murdered  in  their 
ivory  chairs.  The  Capitol  was,  however,  defended  by  a  garrison, 
which  was  saved  from  a  night  attack  by  the  cackling  of  some  geese.] 

Vse  victis ! 

Brennus  consented  to  leave  Rome  upon  the  payment  of  one 
thousand  talents.  Reproached  with  using  false  measures,  he 
threw  his  sword  into  the  scale,  exclaiming,  "  Woe  to  the  con- 
quered !  "  -PLUTARCH:  Life  of  Camillus  (by  whom  the  Gauls 
were  finally  expelled). 

JOHN  BRIGHT. 

[A  distinguished  English  orator  and  statesman;  born  1811;  en- 
tered Parliament,  1834;  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  1868;  chan- 
cellor of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  1880-82.] 

The  angel  of  Death  has  been  abroad  throughout  the 
land :  you  may  almost  hear  the  beating  of  his  wings. 

Against  the  continuance  of  the  Crimean  war ;  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  Feb.  23,  1855. 


JEAN  .PIERRE   BRISSOT.  71 

The  right  honorable  gentleman  is  the  first  of  the  new 
party  who  has  retired  into  what  may  be  called  his 
political  cave  of  Adullam. 

Of  Mr.  Horsman  and  a  few  other  Liberals,  who  disapproved  of 
the  Reform  Bill  introduced  in  1866  by  Earl  Russell's  adminis- 
tration ;  a  reference  to  the  discontented  and  distressed,  who  gath- 
ered about  David  in  the  cave  of  Adullam  (1  Sam.  xxii.  1,  2). 
He  alluded  to  Mr.  Lowe  and  Mr.  Horsman,  the  most  distin- 
guished of  the  Adullamites,  as  reminding  him  of  "  the  Scotch 
terrier,  which  was  so  covered  with  hair  that  you  could  not  tell 
which  was  the  head  and  which  was  the  tail  of  it."  Disraeli 
once  advised  Mr.  Robert  Lowe  to  retire  "  not  to  his  cave,  but  to 
a  more  cynical  place." 

And  he  adores  his  maker. 

When  told  that  he  ought  to  give  Mr.  Disraeli  credit  for  being 
a  self-made  man. 

He  said  of  a  gentleman's  ancestors,  who  came  over  with  the 
Conqueror,  "  I  never  heard  that  they  ever  did  any  thing  else." 

Being  told,  while  temporarily  indisposed,  that  a  nobleman  had 
declared  that  Providence  had  inflicted  upon  him  a  disease  of  the 
brain  by  way  of  punishment  for  the  misuse  of  his  talents,  Mr. 
Bright  quietly  observed,  "  It  will  be  some  consolation  to  the 
friends  and  family  of  the  noble  lord  to  know  that  the  disease 
is  one  which  Providence  could  not  inflict  upon  him." 

He  once  declared  of  the  Tories,  "  Had  they  been  in  the  wilder- 
ness, they  would  have  complained  of  the  Ten  Commandments." 

He  used  the  expression  "  a  free  breakfast-table,"  in  addressing 
the  Edinburgh  Chamber  of  Commons  in  .1868,  advocating  the 
repeal  of  the  remaining  duties  on  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar. 

Mr.  Bright  made  an  assertion  during  the  land  troubles  in 
Ireland  in  1880,  which  has  often  been  repeated,  "  Force  is  no 
remedy." 

JEAN  PIERRE  BRISSOT. 

[A  politician  of  the  French  Revolution,  born  1754;  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Girondists,  with  whom  he  was  executed,  October, 


72  LORD  BROUGHAM. 

How  much  blood  will  be  required  to  wash   out   our 
own! 

During  "the  last  night  of  the  Girondists." 

He  said  of  Mme.  Roland,  "  It  is  less  difficult  for  a  woman 
to  obtain  celebrity  by  her  genius,  than  to  be  forgiven  for  it." 

Dufoce,  a  Girondist,  being  asked,  on  his  trial  by  the  revolu- 
tionary tribunal,  what  he  thought  of  Brissot,  replied,  "  He 
lived  like  Aristides,  and  died  like  Sidney."  Taine,  however, 
calls  him  "one  of  those  presuming,  threadbare,  talkative  fel- 
lows, who,  living  in  a  garret,  lectures  foreign  cabinets,  and 
reconstructs  all  Europe."  —  French  Revolution. 

LOUD  BROUGHAM. 

[Henry  Brougham,  born  1799;  entered  Parliament,  1810;  lord 
chancellor,  1830;  raised  to  the  peerage  under  the  title  of  Baron 
Brougham  and  Vaux;  retired  1831;  died  1868.] 

The  schoolmaster  is  abroad. 

In  a  speech  on  the  address  to  the  crown,  Jan.  28,  1828,  after 
the  Duke  of  Wellington  had  become  prime  minister,  Brougham 
said  that  "  the  country  sometimes  heard  with  dismay  that  the 
soldier  was  abroad.  Now  there  is  another  person  abroad,  —  a 
less  important  person ;  in  the  eyes  of  some,  an  insignificant  per- 
son, —  whose  labors  had  tended  to  produce  this  state  of  things. 
The  schoolmaster  is  abroad !  and  I  trust  more  to  the  schoolmas- 
ter armed  with  his  primer,  than  to  the  soldier  in  full  military 
array,  for  upholding  and  extending  the  liberties  of  my  country." 

Brougham  refused  Canning's  offer  of  the  office  of  chief  baron 
of  the  exchequer,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  keep  him  out 
of  Parliament.  "  True,"  said  Canning,  "  but  you  will  be  only 
one  stage  from  the  woolsack." — "Yes,"  rejoined  Brougham, 
"but  the  horses  will  be  off."  —  JEXXIXGS  :  Anecdotal  History  of 
Parliament. 

Measures,  not  men. 

Brougham  said  in  the  House  of  Commons,  November,  1830, 
"  It  is  necessary  that  I  should  qualify  the  doctrine  of  its  being 
not  men,  but  measures,  that  I.  am  determined  to  support.  In  a 


LORD  BROUGHAM.  73 


monarchy  it  is  the  duty  of  parliament  to  look  at  the  men  as 
well  as  at  the  measures."  In  Goldsmith's  "  Good-natured  Man," 
one  of  the  characters  says,  "  Measures,  not  men,  have  always 
been  my  mark."  Canning  said  in  a  speech  against  the  Adding- 
ton  ministry,  in  1801,  "  Away  with  the  cant  of  '  Measures,  not 
men'! — the  idle  supposition  that  it  is  the  harness  and  not  the 
horses  that  draw  the  chariot  along.  No,  sir :  if  the  compari- 
son must  be  made,  if  the  distinction  must  be  taken,  men  are 
every  thing,  measures  are  comparatively  nothing."  Burke,  in 
"  Thoughts  on  the  Cause  of  the  Present  Discontents,"  spoke 
of  "the  cant  of  'not  men,  but  measures.'" 

Of  Lord  Liverpool,  who  was  premier  for  fifteen  years, 
Brougham  said,  "  The  noble  lord  is  a  person  of  that  sort,  that, 
if  you  should  bray  him  in  a  niortar,  you  could  not  bray  the 
prejudices  out  of  him." 

His  self-sufficiency  is  seen  by  a  remark  concerning  the  cabinet 
in  which  he  was  lord  chancellor  from  1830-34  :  "  The  Whigs  are 
all  ciphers :  I  am  the  only  unit  in  the  cabinet  that  gives  a 
value  to  them." 

On  Brougham's  elevation  to  the  woolsack,  Daniel  O'Connell 
declared,  "  If  Brougham  knew  a  little  law,  he  would  know  a 
little  of  every  thing."  Emerson,  "  New  Essays,"  quotes  it  from 
Eldon,  Brougham's  predecessor  as  lord  chancellor  :  "  What  a 
wonderfully  versatile  mind  he  has !  he  knows  politics,  Greek, 
history,  science:  if  he  only  knew  a  little  of  law,  he  would 
know  a  little  of  every  thing."  Louis  XVI.  made  a  similar 
remark  of  the  Abbe  Maury,  who  preached  at  the  Tuileries  in 
1781,  and  touched  upon  government,  finance,  politics,  etc.  :  "  If 
he  had  said  something  about  religion,"  remarked  the  king, 
"  he  would  have  said  something  about  every  thing  "  (Si  fable 
Maury  nous  avail  parti  un  pen  tie  religion,  il  nous  aurait  parti  de 
tout). 

As  Samuel  Rogers  saw  Brougham  drive  away  from  a  coun- 
try-house, he  remarked,  "  There  go  Solon,  Lycurgus,  Demosthe- 
nes, Archimedes,  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Lord  Chesterfield,  and  a 
great  many  others,  in  one  post-chaise."  Sydney  Smith,  seeing 
Brougham  in  a  carriage,  on  the  panel  of  which  was  the  letter 
B  surmounted  by  a  coronet,  observed,  "  There  goes  a  carriage 
with  a  B  outside  and  a  wasp  inside." 


74  BEAU  BRUMMEL. 


BEAU  BRUMMEL. 

[George  Brummel,  commonly  called  "  Beau  Brummel,"  horn  in 
London,  1778,  a  favorite  and  companion  of  the  Prince  Regent,  and 
leader  of  fashion,  having  dissipated  his  fortune,  he  retired  to  Caen, 
France,  where  he  died,  1840  ] 

I  once  ate  a  pea. 

When  asked  at  dinner  if  he  never  ate  vegetables. 

He  explained  limping  in  Bond  Street,  by  an  injury  to  his  leg; 
"and  the  worst  of  it  was,"  he  added,  "  it  was  my  favorite  leg/' 

Being  asked  why  he  had  such  a  bad  cold,  he  said,  "  I  left  my 
carriage  yesterday  evening  on  my  way  to  town  from  the  Pavilion, 
and  the  infidel  of  a  landlord  put  me  into  a  room  with  a  damp 
stranger." 

Passing  a  new  bronze  statue  of  Pitt,  some  one  remarked  that 
he  never  thought  Pitt  was  so  tall  a  man ;  "  Nor  so  green  a  one," 
added  Brummel. 

After  his  rupture  with  the  Prince  Regent,  Brummel  came 
upon  him  suddenly  one  day  with  some  friends,  and,  addressing 
one  of  them  while  looking  at  the  prince  as  at  an  entire  stranger, 
said,  "  Alvanley,  who's  your  fat  friend  ?  " 

He  answered  the  question  whether  he  had  ever  seen  so  unsea- 
sonable a  summer,  by  saying,  "  Yes  :  last  winter  " 

"  Civility,  he  once  observed,  "may  be  truly  said  to  cost  noth- 
ing :  if  it  does  not  meet  with  a  good  return,  it  at  least  leaves 
you  in  the  most  creditable  position." 

After  crossing  the  Channel,  Brummel  studied  French ;  and, 
being  asked  what  progress  he  was  making,  replied,  "  It's  with 
me  as  with  Napoleon  in  Russia,  —  J  am  stopped  by  the  ele- 
ments.1' 

BUFFON. 

[George,  Count  de  Buffon,  an  illustrious  French  naturalist  and 
philosopher,  born  in  Burgundy,  1707;  appointed  intendant  of  the 
Royal  Garden,  1739;  member  of  the  Academy,  1753;  died  1788.] 

The  style  is  the  man  himself. 

In  his  reception  address  at  the  French  Academy,  Buffon  said 
that  "only  well-\vritten  works  would  descend  to  posterity.  Ful- 
ness of  knowledge,  interesting  facts,  even  useful  inventions,  are 


BUFFON.  75 


no  pledges  of  immortality,  for  they  may  be  employed  by  more 
skilful  hands :  they  are  outside  the  man,  the  style  is  the  man 
himself "  (ces  clioses  sont  Jiors  de  I'liomme,  le  style  est  Vhomine 
meme).  Maupertuis  wrote  to  Frederick  the  Great,  Nov.  10, 
1745 :  "  Wit  belongs  to  man  ;  style,  to  the  author.  One  may 
almost  judge  of  th.e  fortune  of  authors  by  reading  their  works ; ' 
and  Goethe  says,  "  A  writer's  style  is  the  counter-proof  of  his 
character."  Pope  declares  that  "  nothing  is  more  foolish  than 
to  pretend  to  know  a  great  writer  by  his  style."  Chesterfield, 
writing  to  his  son  (1749),  calls  style  "the  dress  of  thought." 
Isaac  Disraeli,  speaking  of  the  literary  character  of  men  of 
genius,  says  that  an  author  can  have  nothing  truly  his  own  but 
his  style :  an  author's  diction  cannot  be  taken  from  him. 
Fenelon,  before  Buffon's  time,  called  a  man's  style  "  nearly  as 
much  a  part  of  him  as  his  physiognomy,  his  figure,  the  beating 
of  his  pulse,  —  in  short,  as  any  part  of  his  being  which  is  least 
subjected  to  the  action  of  the  will." 

In  Buffon's  case  the  aphorism  suited  the  man.  His  character, 
habits,  even  his  physique,  resembled  his  style.  "  His  manners 
were  distinguished,  his  tastes  magnificent,  his  carriage  noble ; 
and  all  corresponded  to  the  beauty  of  his  images,  the  amplitude 
of  his  periods,  the  harmony  and  majesty  of  his  expressions.  He 
justified  the  inscription  upon  the  statue  erected  to  him  in  his 
lifetime,  '  Maj estate  naturce  par  ingenium'  '  (a  genius  equalled  by 
natural  majesty).  To  some  one  who  spoke  to  Voltaire  of  Buf- 
fon's "Natural  History,"  "  Xot  so  natural,"  rejoined  the  poet. 
His  manner  of  writing,  with  his  hands  enclosed  in  lace  ruffles, 
made  les  manchettes  de  Bujfon  a  proverbial  expression  for  an 
ornate  style.  Grimm  said  Montesquieu  had  "the  style  of  a 
genius;  Buffon,  the  genius  of  style;"  and  a  witty  woman  re- 
marked, that  the  naturalist  sometimes  renounced  the  spirit  of 
his  age,  but  never  its  pomps. 


Genius   is  only  great  patience  (Le  genie  rfest  outre  chose 
qiCune  yrande  aptitude  a  la  patience.) 

Carlyle  wrote  that  genius  is  only  an  immense  capacity  for 
taking  trouble.  Dr.  Johnson's  definition  was,  "  Genius  is  a 
mind  of  large  general  powers,  accidentally  determined  to  some 
particular  direction." 


76  LORD  BURGHLEY. 

LORD  BURGHLEY. 

[Sir  "William  Cecil,  an  English  statesman;  born  1520;  secretary  of 
state  from  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  1558;  lord  treasurer, 
1572;  died  1598.] 

Madam,  I  have  heard  men  say  that  those  who  would 
make  fools  of  princes  are  the  fools  themselves. 

To  Queen  Elizabeth. 

"  England,"  he  said,  "  can  never  be  ruined  except  by  a  parlia- 
ment." 

He  wrote  to  his  son,  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  July  10,  1598 :  "  Serve 
God,  by  serving  the  queen ;  for  all  other  service  is  indeed  bond- 
age to  the  Devil." 

He  used  to  throw  off  his  official  robe  with  the  exclamation, 
"  Lie  there,  Lord  Treasurer  !  " 

GOTTFRIED  BURGER. 

[A  German  poet,  author  of  "  Lenore;  "  born,  1748;  died,  1794.] 

You  are  Goethe,  I  am  Burger. 

The  familiar  and  consequential  manner  with  which  Burger  in- 
troduced himself  to  Goethe  in  1800.  He  was  mortified  to  find 
that  the  equality  thus  assumed  was  not  recognized  by  the  author 
of  "  Tasso  "  and  "  Iphigenia." 

DUKE  OF  BURGUNDY. 

[Grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  and  father  of  Louis  XV.;  born  at  Ver- 
sailles, 1682.  Fenelon  was  appointed  his  tutor,  and  effected  an  entire 
change  in  his  character,  which,  from  being  obstinate  and  passionate, 
became  humble  and  gentle.  The  duke  and  duchess  died  of  malignant 
small-pox  in  1712,  greatly  regretted  by  the  nation.] 

"What,  do  kings  die?  (Quoi,  done,  lesroismeurent-ils?) 

To  Fenelon,  who  spoke  of  a  certain  king  as  dead.  The  ques- 
tion illustrates  the  education  of  princes  of  that  period.  Thus 
the  grandfather  of  Philip  Egalite,  Due  d'Orleans,  started  up 
in  indignation,  when  his  secretary  stumbled,  in  reading,  on  the 
words,  "the  late  king  of  Spain"  (feu  roi  (TEspagne).  "  Mon- 
seigneur,"  hastily  answered  the  trembling  but  adroit  man  of 
business,  "  'tis  a  title  they  take  ! "  (c'est  un  litre  qu'ils  prennent !  ) 
—  CARLYLE  :  French  Revolution,  I.  1,  4. 


EDMUND   BURKE.  77 


A  king  is  made  for  his  subjects,  and  not  his  subjects 
for  him. 

These  two  sayings  illustrate  the  two  phases  of  the  duke's  char- 
acter. The  latter  has,  however,  a  more  illustrious  parentage ; 
for  it  translates  almost  literally  Dante's  sentiment  in  his  treatise 
"  De  Monarchia,"  "  Non  enim  gens  propter  regem,  sed  e  converse  rex 
propter  gentem,"  in  which  he  anticipates  the  proposition  of  Cal- 
vin, "  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive  a  people  without  a  prince, 
but  not  a  prince  without  a  people ; "  and  again  Dante  declares 
that  "'citizens  exist  not  for  the  sake  of  consuls,  nor  the  people  for 
the  sake  of  the  king ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  consuls  for  the  sake 
of  citizens,  and  the  king  for  the  sake  of  the  people." 

It  is  related  of  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  that  she  asked  Lonis 
XIV.  and  Mine,  de  Maintenon,  why  in  England  queens  governed 
better  than  kings,  and  answered  the  question  herself  :  "  Because 
under  kings  it  is  the  women  who  govern,  and  men  under  queens." 
A  palpable  hit  at  the  state  of  things  in  France. 

EDMUND  BURKE. 

[A  distinguished  orator  and  writer;  born  in  Dublin,  1730,  or,  ac- 
cording to  some  authorities,  in  1728;  educated  at  Trinity  College,  and 
studied  for  the  bar;  published  his  "  Vindication  of  Natural  Society," 
anonymously,  1750;  entered  Parliament,  17GG;  Paymaster-general  in 
the  Rockinghani  ministry,  1782;  retired  1783;  died  1797.] 

In  that  way  I  let  myself  down  to' you. 

In  1759  Burke  was  introduced  to  William  Gerard  Hamilton, 
known,  from  his  brilliant  and  only1  speech  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, as  "  Single-speech  Hamilton,"  who  made  him  his  private 
secretary,  and,  at  a  later  period,  twitted  him  with  being  taken 
from  a  garret.  "  In  that  way,"  proudly  answered  Burke,  "  I  let 
rnyself  down  to  you." 

The  Abbe  Mably,  an  historical  writer,  made  an  even  more 
pointed  answer  to  a  French  count  who  had  befriended  him  and 
then  boasted  of  it,  "Men  of  merit  lodge  in  garrets,  and  fools 
inhabit  palaces  "  (Les  gens  de  me'rite  logent  dans  des  greniers,  et  les 
sots  habitent  dans  des  hotels}. 

Burke  was  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  in  youth  the  gallery  of 
the  House  of  Commons  to  listen  to  the  debates.  "  Some  of  these 


78  EDMUND   BURKE. 


men,"  he  said,  "  talk  like  Demosthenes  or  Cicero  ;   and  I  feel, 
when  I  am  listening  to  them,  as  if  I  were  in  Athens  or  Rome." 

What  shadows  we  are. 

In  a  speech  at  Bristol,  on  declining  the  poll,  September,  1780, 
after  an  unsuccessful  canvass,  Burke  alluded  to  the  sudden  death 
of  one  of  the  candidates,  Mr.  Cooinbe:  "The  worthy  gentleman 
who  has  been  snatched  from  us  at  the  moment  of  the  elecjtion, 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  contest,  whilst  his  desires  were  as 
warm  and  his  hopes  as  eager  as  ours,  has  feelingly  told  us  what 
shadows  we  are,  and  what  shadows  we  pursue."  Wordsworth 
said,  "  We  all  laugh  at  pursuing  a  shadow,  though  the  lives  of 
•the  multitude  are  devoted  to  the  chase." 

While  making  a  personal  canvass  for  an  election  in  1774, 
Burke  and  his  friends  entered  a  house  where  the  wife  of  the 
owner  was  reading  the  Bible.  "  I  have  called,  madam,"  he 
said,  "to  solicit  the  favor  of  your  husband's  vote  and  interest  in 
the  present  election.  You,  I  perceive,"  —  placing  his  finger  on  a 
passage  that  struck  his  eye,  — "  are  making  your  .'calling  and 
election  sure.' :'  — JENNINGS  :  Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament. 

It  was  after  the  election  of  this  year  that  Burke  was  followed 
in  returning  thanks  by  his  colleague,  Mr.  Cruger,  a  merchant; 
who  was  content  to  express  his  approval  of  the  sentiments  of  the 
illustrious  orator,  by  exclaiming,  "Gentlemen,  I  say  ditto  to  Mr. 
Burke ! " 

Burke,  in  his  own  speech  on  this  occasion,  expressed  the  proper 
relation  between  a  representative  and  his  constituents,  by  saying, 
"  Your  representative  owes  you,  not  his  industry  only,  but  his 
judgment ;  and  he  betrays  instead  of  serving  you,  if  he  sacrifices 
it  to  your  opinion." 

He  remarked  half -seriously  of  a  personal  relation  with  the  city 
he  represented,  "  Though  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  Bristol,  I 
should  not  like  to  live  there :  I  should  be  obliged  to  be  so  much 
on  my  good  behavior."  —  BOSWELL'S  Johnson,  1779. 

One  of  his  constituents  protested  against  concessions  to  the 
Irish;  to  which  Burke  replied,  "Sir,  it  is  proper  to  inform  you 
that  our  measures  must  be  healing." 

He  wrote  to  a  member  of  the  Bell  Club  of  Bristol,  Oct.  31, 
1777 :  "  If  it  be  true  in  any  degree  that  the  governors  form  the 


EDMUND  BURKE.  79 


people,  I  am  certain  that  it  is  as  true  that  the  people  in  their 
turn  impart  their  character  to  their  rulers;  "  and,  in  a  speech  to 
the  electors  during  his  last  canvass,  in  1780,  he  said,  "Depend 
upon  it,  that  the  lovers  of  freedom  will  be  free." 

I  do  not  know  the  method  of  drawing  up  an  indict- 
ment against  a  whole  people. 

In  a  speech  on  Conciliation  with  America,  March  22,  1775, 
from  which  other  quotations  follow. 

Referring  to  the  growth  of  the  American  colonies,  he  said, 
"  No  sea  but  what  is  vexed  with  their  fisheries,  no  climate  that 
is  not  witness  to  their  toils."  He  spoke  of  the  colonists  as  "a 
recent  people,  —  a  people  who  are  still,  as  it  were,  but  in  the 
gristle,  and  not  yet  hardened  into  the  bone  of  manhood." 
When  he  contemplated  that  fact,  and  reflected  how  profitable 
they  had  been  to  the  mother  country,  "  My  rigor  relents  :  I  par- 
don something  to  the  spirit  of  liberty." 

The  wisdom  of  our  ancestors. 

In  the  same  speech,  in  1775,  Burke  declared  that  he  set  out 
"  with  a  perfect  distrust  of  my  own  abilities,  a  total  renunciation 
of  every  speculation  of  my  own,  and  with  a  profound  reverence 
for  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors."  Jennings  ("  Anecdotal  History 
of  Parliament")  asserts  that  Sir  William  Grant  (1754-1832)  was 
the  first  to  use  the  expression,  "  the  wisdom  of  our  ancestors," 
which  he  applied  to  a  proposition  of  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  to 
subject  a  man's  real  property  to  the  payment  of  all  his  debts. 
He  entered  Parliament,  however,  in  1790. 

"  All  government,"  said  Burke,  in  reference  to  a  compromise 
with  America,  "  indeed,  every  human  benefit  and  enjoyment, 
every  virtue,  and  every  prudent  act,  is  founded  on  compromise 
and  barter." 

The  religion  of  the  colonies  partook  of  their  independent 
spirit.  He  called  it  "  a  refinement  of  the  principles  of  resist- 
ance ;  it  is  the  dissidence  of  dissent,  and  the  protestantism  of 
the  Protestant  religion." 

Looking  at  the  determined  character  of  the  Americans,  he 
declared  that  "a  nation  is  not  governed  which  is  perpetually  to 
be  conquered;"  nor  could  an  Englishman  properly  engage  in 


80  EDMUND  BURKE. 


that  perpetual  conquest :  "  An  Englishman  is  the  unfittest  per- 
son on  earth  to  argue  another  Englishman  into  slavery."  As  he 
could  not  draw  an  indictment  against  a  whole  people,  so  he 
could  not  be  persuaded,  when  such  a  people  are  concerned,  "that 
acts  of  lenity  are  not  means  of  conciliation."  He  would  give 
magnanimity  a  place  even  in  politics;  he  thought  it  "not  seldom 
the  truest  wisdom :  a  great  empire  and  little  mind  go  ill  to- 
gether." If  it  was  merely  slavery  they  wanted,  they  could  have 
that  anywhere :  "  it  is  a  weed  that  grows  on  every  soil." 

In  his  speech  on  the  Taxation  of  America,  Burke  asked, 
"Would  twenty  shillings  have  ruined  Mr.  Hampden's  fortune? 
Xo ;  but  the  payment  of  half  twenty  shillings,  on  the  principle 
it  was  demanded,  would  have  made  him  a  slave." 

Liberty  must  be  limited  in  order  to  be  enjoyed. 

He  also  called  liberty  "  a  good  to  be  improved,  and  not  an 
evil  to  be  lessened." 

In  a  letter  to  the  sheriffs  of  Bristol,  April  3,  1777,  Burke 
wrote,  "  He  that  accuses  all  mankind  of  corruption  ought  to 
remember  that  he  is  sure  to  convict  only  one." 

He  said  of  William  Dowdeswell,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer 
in  1765,  "  Immersed  in  the  greatest  affairs,  he  never  lost  the 
ancient,  native,  genuine  English  character  of  a  country  gentle- 


man." 


"  And  thus  lie  bore  without  abuse, 
The  grand  old  name  of  gentleman." 

TENNYSOX:  In  Memoriam,  ex. 

"  Men  want  arguments  to  reconcile  their  minds  to  what  is 
done,"  he  wrote  to  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  Xov.  14,  1769, 
"  as  well  as  motives  originally  to  act  right." 

"The  poorest  being,"  he  once  said,  "that  crawls  on  earth, 
contending  to  save  itself  from  injustice  and  oppression,  is  an 
object  respectable  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man." 

Those  things  which  are  not  practicable  are  not   de- 
sirable. . 

"There  is  nothing  in  the  world,  really  beneficial,"  he  con- 
tinued, "  that  does  not  lie  within  the  reach  of  an  informed 
understanding  and  a  well-directed  pursuit.  There  is  nothing 


EDMUND   BURKE.  81 


that  God  has  judged  good  for  us,  that  he  has  not  given  us  the 
means  to  accomplish,  both  in  the  natural  and  the  moral  world. 
If  we  cry,  like  children,  for  the  moon,  like  children  we  must  cry 
on."  (Speech  on  the  Plan  for  Economical  Reform,  Feb.  11, 
1780.) 

The  public  is  poor. 

In  the  same  speech  he  said,  "  If  any  merit  of  an  extraordinary 
nature  should  emerge  before  that  reduction  is  completed,  I  have 
left  it  open  for  an  address  of  either  House  of  Parliament,  to 
provide  for  the  case.  To  all  other  demands  it  must  be  answered 
with  regret,  but  with  firmness,  '  The  public  is  poor.'  This  is 
often  quoted,  "  The  state  is  always  poor." 

When  George  III.  sent  a  message  to  the  House  in  1782,  rec- 
ommending economy  in  the  public  expenditure,  Burke  called  it 
"  the  best  of  messages,  to  the  best  of  people,  from  the  best  of 
kings." 

The  people  never  give  up  their  liberties  except  under 
some  delusion. 

Speech  at  county  meeting  of  Bucks,  1784. 

He  declared  that  "the  principles  of  true  politics  are  those  of 
morality  enlarged;  and  I  neither  now  do,  nor  ever  will,  admit 
of  any  other." 

There  is  a  loss  of  friends. 

In  a  debate  on  the  Canada  Bill  (1791),  Fox  had  referred  to 
France,  and  made  reflections  on  Burke's  views  of  the  Revolution. 
Burke,  when  replying  on  a  subsequent  night,  was  called  to  order 
by  Fox's  friends,  and  even  by  Fox  himself,  until  he  said  that, 
at  the  expense  of  the  abandonment  of  friends,  he  would  risk  all 
to  exclaim,  "Fly  from  the  French  constitution!"  Fox  whis- 
pered, "There  is  no  loss  of  friends."  To  which  Burke  replied, 
"  There  is  a  loss  of  friends."  Their  friendship  of  twenty-five 
years  was  at  an  end.  But  six  years  afterwards  Burke  could  say 
of  Fox,  "  He  is  a  man  to  be  loved."  Fox  had  said  of  the  French 
Revolution,  "  How  much  it  is  the  greatest  event  that  ever  hap- 
pened in  the  world,  and  how  much  the  best !  "  Samuel  Rogers 
declared  it  to  be  "  the  greatest  event  in  Europe  since  the  erup- 
tion of  the  Goths." 


82  EDMUND   BURKE. 


It  is  the  day  of  no  judgment  that  I  am  afraid  of. 

To  Pitt,  who  said,  while  discussing  French  affairs  in  1791, 
that  England  and  the  British  Constitution  were  safe  till  the  day 
of  judgment. 

Burke  wrote  to  a  French  gentleman,  October,  1789,  "  When- 
ever a  separation  is  made  between  liberty  and  justice,  neither 
is,  in  my  opinion,  safe ;  "  and  in  a  letter  to  a  member  of  the 
National  Assembly,  1791,  "Men  are  as  much  blinded  by  the 
extremes  of  misery  as  by  the  extremes  of  prosperity.'1  The 
disappointment  of  his  hopes  by  the  excesses  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution made  him  declare,  "  Without  a  monarchy  in  England  we 
most  certainly  can  enjoy  neither  peace  nor  liberty •"'  He  said  of 
the  French  philosophers,  whose  writings  had  done  much  to  in- 
culcate revolutionary  ideas,  "These  fellows  have  a  wrong  twist 
in  their  heads,  which  ten  to  one  gives  them  a  wrong  twist  in 
their  hearts  also." 

When  the  royal  family  was  brought  by  the  mob  from  Ver- 
sailles to  Paris,  Oct.  5,  1789,  Burke  exclaimed,  "  The  French 
have  shown  themselves  the  ablest  architects  of  ruin  that  have 
hitherto  existed  in  the  world.  They  have  done  their  business 

*/ 

for  us  in   a  way  that  no   Rarnillies   or  Blenheim   could  have 
done." 

Pardon  me,  sir,  we  were  two  yesterday :  we  are  one 
to-day. 

When  Fox  and  Lord  North  formed  their  coalition,  and  entered 
the  House  together  as  the  speaker  was  counting  those  present: 
"  One,  two  "  —  On  the  arrival  of  Garibaldi  in  Rome,  following 
the  entrance  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  September,  1870,'  Pius  IX. 
indicated  in  his  good-natured  way  the  position  of  the  illustrious 
republican  :  "  We  were  two  :  now  we  are  three.'' 

Burke  wrote  to  Sir  Hercules  Langrishe,  on  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics of  Ireland,  in  1792:  "That  discretion,  which  in  judicature 
is  well  said  by  Lord  Coke  to  be  a  crooked  cord,  in  legislature 
is  a  golden  rule."  Sir  Hercules  was  the  gentleman,  who,  when 
asked  if  he  had  finished  three  bottles  of  port  without  assist- 
ance, replied,  "  Not  quite :  I  had  the  assistance  of  a  bottle  of 
Madeira." 


EDMUND   BURKE.  83 


Burke  wrote  to  the  king-  of  Poland  in  1792 :  "  He  is  noble 
who  has  a  priority  among  freemen,  not  he  who  has  a  sort  of 
wild  liberty  among  slaves." 

I  never  knew  a  man  that  was  bad,  fit  for  service  that 
was  good. 

Said  of  Warren  Hastings ;  as  this,  in  the  great  speech  on  his 
impeachment :  "  Thank  God,  my  lords,  men  that  are  greatly 
guilty  are  never  wise." 

"The  people,"  he  once  said,  "have  no  interest  in  disorder. 
When  they  go  wrong,  it  is  their  error  and  not  their  crime." 

His  faith  in  the  popular  judgment  was  shown  by  the  remark, 
"  In  all  disputes  between  the  people  and  their  rulers,  the  pre- 
sumption is  at  least  upon  a  par  in  favor  of  the  people.  ' 

He  wrote  to  Sir  Philip  Francis,  Dec.  11,  1789  :  "  There  are  sit- 
uations in  which  despair  does  not  imply  inactivity."  Disraeli 
said,  "Despair  is  the  conclusion  of  fools."  —  Sibyl. 

It  is  enough  for  me  to  have  rung  the  bell  to  him. 

When  Mr.  Bennet  Langton  observed  that  he  would  have  been 
glad  to  hear  another  than  Dr.  Johnson,  on  every  subject  that 
was  broached.  —  BOSWELL'S  Johnson,  1780.  Bourdaloue's  bea- 
dle, w7hen  some  one  praised  a  sermon  of  the  great  preacher, 
proudly  exclaimed,  "  I  am  the  man  who  rang  the  bell  for  him  !  ' 
(C'est  moi  qui  Va  sonne .')  Johnson's  opinion  of  Burke  was 
equally  flattering :  "  I  do  not  grudge  Burke  being  the  first  man 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  for  he  is  the  first  man  everywhere." 

"A  dull  proser,"  Burke  once  remarked,  "is  more  endurable 
than  a  dull  joker." 

Bad  laws  are  the  worst  sort  of  tyranny. 

He  wrote  to  Thomas  Mercer,  Feb.  26,  1790:  "The  tyranny 
of  a  multitude  is  a  multiplied  tyranny." 

He  once  said  of  political  sermons,  "  Surely  the  church  is  a 
place  where  one  day's  truce  may  be  allowed  to  the  dissensions 
and  animosities  of  mankind." 

Of  his  political  principles  he  remarked,  "  I  pitched  my  Whig- 
gism  low,  that  I  might  live  by  it." 


84  EDMUND   BURKE. 


Swaggering   paradoxes,    when   examined,    often    sink 
into  pitiful  logomachies. 

An  illustration  of  his  use  of  large  words,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing is  another:  when  Croft's  "Life  of  Dr.  Young"  was  spoken 
of  as  a  good  imitation  of  Johnson's  style,  Burke  replied,  "It 
has  all  the  nodosities  of  the  oak,  without  its  strength ;  it  has 
all  the  contortions  of  the  sibyl,  without  the  inspiration."  — 
PRIOR  :  Life. 

I  was  not  swaddled  into  a  legislator. 

He  said  in  a  letter,  "I  was  not  swaddled,  and  rocked,  and 
dandled  into  a  legislator.  Nitor  in  adversum  is  the  motto  for  a 
man  like  me.  At  every  step  in  my  progress  in  life  (for  in  every 
step  I  was  traversed  and  opposed),  and  at  every  turnpike  I  met, 
I  was  obliged  to  show  my  passport." 

A  member  named  Onslow  endeavored  on  one  occasion  to  ob- 
tain support  for  his  opinion  in  favor  of  preventing  the  publica- 
tion of  the  proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons,  by  claiming 
descent  from  three  speakers  of  the  House.  Burke  replied,  "  I 
have  not  the  advantage  of  a  parliamentary  genealogy.  I  was 
not  born,  like  the  honorable  gentleman,  with  '  Order '  running 
through  my  veins." 

"  Difficulty,"  he  once  remarked,  "  is  good  for  man." 


The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man. 

The  motto  which  Burke  suggested  for  a  book  Boswell  said  he 
should  write  after  visiting  the  Isle  of  Man.  —  Life  of  Johnson, 
1776.  (From  Pope's  "  Essay  on  Man,"  II.  1.) 

Johnson  expressed  a  good  opinion  of  Burke's  humor.  The 
latter  disapproved  of  the  acceptance  by  a  friend  of  the  appoint- 
ment of  Dean  of  Ferns :  "  I  do  not  like  the  name.  It  sounds 
like  a  barren  title."  —  PRIOR:  Life.  He  claimed  that  Horace 
had  a  good  living  in  view  when  he  wrote  :  — 

"  Est  modus  in  rebus,  sunt  certi  denique  fines." 

Satires,  V.  106. 

He  translated  it,  — 

"  A  modus  in  the  tithes,  aud^/mes  certain." 


EDMUND  BURKE.  85 


Mr.  Hartley,  while  making  a  dull  speech  in  the  House,  de- 
manded that  the  Riot  Act  should  be  read.  "The  Riot  Act,  my 
dear  friend !  "  exclaimed  Burke,  looking  at  the  empty  benches : 
"do  you  not  see  that  the  mob  is  completely  dispersed?" 

During  the  last  years  of  his  parliamentary  course,  Burke's  long 
speeches  fatigued  the  new  generation,  which  had  not  heard  the 
brilliant  efforts  of  his  earlier  life.  On  one  occasion  when  Burke 
rose,  a  country  member  expressed  the  hope  that  the  right  honor- 
able gentleman  was  not  going  to  bore  them  with  a  long  speech ; 
which  fairly  drove  Burke  out  of  the  house.  .  "Never  before," 
said  Selywn,  in  reference  to  it,  "  did  I  see  the  fable  realized,  —  a 
lion  put  to  flight  by  the  braying  of  an  ass."  But  Selwyn  him 
self  once  replied  to  a  nobleman,  who,  seeing  him  and  others 
coming  out,  asked  if  the  House  were  up,  "No,  but  Burke  is." 
He  had  by  that  time  gained  the  nickname  of  "the  dinner-bell." 

Burke  called  the  divine  right  of  kings  and  toastmasters,  jure 
de-vino  (divino). 

He  compared  the  skulls  in  the  catacombs  to  the  old  French 
noblesse :  "  They  do  not  shock  one's  feelings  by  pretending  to  be 
alive." 

His  virtues  were  his  arts. 

The  inscription  which  Burke  composed  for  the  mausoleum  of 
the  Marquis  of  Rockingham. 

I  had  indeed  the  folly  to  write  it,  but  the  wit  to  keep 
it  to  myself. 

When  Fox  asked  him  if  he  had  shown  Garrick  a  tragedy  he 
had  written. 

A  whale  stranded  upon  the  sea-shore  of  Europe. 

Of  modern  Spain.  Edmund  Waller  said  of  James  II.,  "He 
will  be  left  alone  like  a  whale  upon  the  strand." 

I  am  alone :  I  have  none  to  meet  my  enemies  in  the 
gate. 

Of  the  death  of  his  only  son.  He  said  of  this  crushing  event, 
"  They  who  should  have  been  to  me  as  posterity  are  in  the  place 
of  ancestors."  In  reply  to  attacks  made  upon  his  pension,  he 


86  AAEOX  BURR. 


said  in  "A  Letter  to  Xoble  Lord,"  referring  to  his  son's  death, 
and  his  own  retirement,  '•  The  storm  has  gone  over  me,  and  I  lie 
like  one  of  those  old  oaks  which  the  hurricane  has  scattered 
about  me."  —  PRIOR  :  Life. 

He  wrote  to  Matthew  Smith  :  "  I  would  rather  sleep  in  the 
southern  corner  of  a  little  country  churchyard,  than  in  the  tombs 
of  the  Capulets." 

Robert  Hall  said  of  Burke,  "His  imperial  fancy  laid  all  nature 
under  tribute." 

Dr.  Johnson  made  the  celebrated  remark  concerning  him : 
"  Burke,  sir,  is  such  a  man,  that  if  you  met  him  for  the  first 
time  in  the  street,  where  you  were  stopped  by  a  drove  of  oxen, 
and  you  stepped  aside  to  take  shelter  for  five  minutes,  he'd  talk 
to  you  in  such  a  manner  that  when  you  parted  you  would  say, 
1  This  is  an  extraordinary  man.'  At  another  time  he  supposed 
that  a  man  were  to  take  shelter  from  a  shower  under  a  shed 
with  Burke,  and  the  same  judgment  would  be  passed  upon  him. 
When  Burke  showed  Johnson  his  house  and  lands  near  Beacons- 

* 

field,  the  philosopher  exclaimed,  "  Non  equulem  invideo ;  miror 
magis"  (I  don't  envy:  I  rather  admire). — Bos  WELL  :  Johnson, 
1778.  Johnson  said  at  another  time,  when  ill,  "That  fellow  calls 
forth  all  my  powers:  were  I  to  see  Burke  now,  it  would  kill  ine." 

• 

AARON  BURH. 

[An  American  politician,  born  at  Newark,  N.J.,  1756;  served  in 
the  expedition  against  Quebec;  admitted  to  the  bar  of  New  York, 
1782;  elected  to  the  United-States  Senate,  1791;  chosen  Vice-president 
of  the  United  States  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  1800;  tried 
on  a  charge  of  treason,  and  acquitted,  1807;  lived  many  years  in 
poverty  in  Europe;  died  in  New  York,  1836.] 

Law   is    whatever   is    boldly   asserted    and    plausibly 
maintained. 

Coke  called  law  "the  perfection  of  reason,"  following  Sir  John 
Powell,  who  said  in  "  Coggs  v.  Bernard  "  ("  2  Lord  Raymond, 
911  "),  ''  For  nothing  is  law  that  is  not  reason."  Hooker's  sub- 
lime personification  naturally  suggests  itself  :  "  Of  Law  there 
can  be  no  less  acknowledged,  than  that  her  seat  is  the  bosom 
of  God,  her  voice  the  harmony  of  the  world."- — Ecclesiastical 
Polity,  I. 


LORD      YRON.  87 


Burr  wrote  to  Pichon,  the  secretary  of  the  French  Legation 
at  AVashington :  "  The  rule  of  my  life  is  to  make  business  a 
pleasure,  and  pleasure  my  business." 

He  asserted  that  the  maxim,  "  Never  put  off  until  to-morrow 
what  can  be  done  to-day,"  was  made  for  sluggards.  "  A  better 
reading  of  it  is,  '  Never  do  to-day  what  you  can  do  as  well  to- 
morrow ; '  because  something  may  occur  to  make  you  regret  your 
premature  action." 


LOUD  BYRON. 

[George  Gordon  Noel,  born  1788;  published  "Hours  of  Idleness," 
1807,  and,  after  a  tour  in  Europe,  two  cantos  of  "  Childe  Harold;  " 
left  England  for  the  Continent,  1816,  and  produced  in  Italy  many  of 
his  finest  poems;  engaged  in  the  Greek  war  of  independence,  and 
died  of  fever  at  Missolonghi,  April  19,  1824.] 

I  awoke  one  morning,  and  found  myself  famous. 

After  the  publication  of  the  first  two  cantos  of  "  Childe 
Harold  :  "  quoted,  from  memoranda,  by  Moore  ("  Life  of  Byron  "). 
It  was  thought  that  in  this  poem  he  described  himself ;  but  he 
said,  "I  would  not  for  the  world  be  a  man  like  my  hero." 

He  once  said  to  Count  Gamba,  father  of  the  Countess  Guic- 
cioli,  "  Poetry  should  only  occupy  the  idle." 

Some  of  his  sayings  on  politics  indicate  the  liberal  tendency 
of  his  mind.  After  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  he  remarked  of  the 
English  foreign  secretary,  "  I  didn't  know  but  I  might  live  to  see 
Castlereagh's  head  on  a  pole,  but  I  sha'n't  now."  Not  relishing 
the  position  he  occupied  as  a  member  of  an  unpopular  opposi- 
tion, he  bitterly  exclaimed,  "  I  have  simplified  my  politics  into 
an  utter  detestation  of  all  existing  governments ; '"  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  "  Come  what  may,  I  will  never  flatter  the  millions' 
canting  in  any  shape." 

The  best  of  prophets  of  the  future  is  the  past. 

Compare  the  remark  of  Frederick  von  Schlegel :  "  The  histo- 
rian is  a  prophet  looking  backwards "  (Der  Historiker  ist  ein 
riickwarts  yekehrter  Prophet).  — Athenceum,  Berlin  :  I.,  2,  20. 

Friendship  may  and  often  does  grow   into   love,  but 
love  never  subsides  into  friendship. 


88  LORD  BYROX. 


Like  the  measles,  love   is  most   dangerous  when   it 
comes  late  in  life. 

The  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  is  the  only 
true  panacea  for  the  ills  of  life. 

Dead !  God,  how  much  there  is  in  that  little  word ! 

From  a  letter.  The  truth  of  this  saying  is  illustrated  by  a 
passage  from  Wraxall's  "Memoirs/'  quoted  by  Jennings  ("An- 
ecdotal History  of  Parliament")  :  "  Sir  Philip  Francis  said  of  a 
regulation  in  Pitt's  India  Bill,  abolishing  trial  by  jury  in  the 
case  of  delinquents  returning  from  India  :  '  Had  the  experiment 
been  made  when  the  illustrious  statesman,  the  iate  Earl  of 
Chatham,  enjoyed  a  seat  in  this  assembly,  he  would  have  sprung 
from  the  bed  of  sickness,  he  would  have  solicited  some  friendly 
hand  to  lay  him  on  the  floor,  and  thence,  with  a  monarch's  voice, 
he  would  have  called  the  whole  kingdom  to  arms  to  oppose  it. 
But  he  is  dead,  and  has  left  nothing  in  the  world  that  resembles 
him.  He  is  dead !  and  the  sense,  the  honor,  the  character,  and 
the  understanding  of  the  nation  are  dead  with  him.'  The  repe- 
tition of  the  words,  '  he  is  dead,' "  adds  Wraxall,  "  was  delivered 
with  the  finest  effect ;  and  the  reflections  produced  by  it  involun- 
tarily attracted  every  eye  towards  the  treasury-bench,  where  sat 
his  son." 

Byron's  last  words  were,  "I  must  sleep  now." 

Goethe  expressed,  in  his  conversations  with  Eckermann  and 
others,  great  admiration  for  Byron.  "  There  is  no  padding,"  he 
said,  "in  his  poetry"  (Es  sind  keine  Flickworter  im  Gedichte), 
He  made  Byron  an  exception  to  his  statement,  "  Modern  poets 
put  too  much  water  in  their  ink"  (Neuere  Poeten  tliun  viel 
Wasser  in  die  Tinte).  The  mot  is,  however,  not  Goethe's,  but  is 
taken  directly  from  Sterne's  "Koran,"  II.,  142,  who  directed  it 
against  the  poets  of  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
especially  Pope.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  Goethe  declared  that 
Byron  "was  always  a  self-tormentor,"  recalling  the  English 
poet's  allusion  to  "the  self -torturing  sophist,  wild  Rousseau."  — 
Childe  Harold,  III.,  77.  Again  Goethe  said  of  him,  "The 
moment  he  reflects,  he  is  a  child  "  (So  bald  er  reflectirt,  ist  er  ein 
Kind). 


CAIUS  JULIUS  CAESAR.  89 

CAIUS  JULIUS  CAESAR. 

[Born  in  Rome,  July  12,  100  B.C.;  studied  oratory  at  Rhodes; 
filled  several  offices  before  the  first  triumvirate,  when  he  obtained 
the  province  of  Gaul,  the  subjugation  of  which  occupied  nine  years; 
being  ordered  by  the  Senate  to  disband  his  army,  he  crossed  the 
Rubicon  and  entered  Rome,  50  B.C.;  pursued  Pompey  to  Greece,  and 
defeated  him  at  Pharsalia,  48;  made  dictator,  conquered  Egypt,  and 
crushed  the  Pompeiaii  faction  in  Africa;  returning  to  Rome,  re- 
formed the  calendar,  declined  the  title  of  king,  and  contemplated 
great  improvements  in  public  administration;  but  was  assassinated 
by  a  combination  of  personal  and  political  enemies,  44  B.C.] 

This  day  you  will  behold  your   son   either   supreme 
pontiff  or  an  exile. 

To  his  mother,  on  the  morning  of  his  election  as  Pontifex 
Maximus,  63  B.C.  His  competitors  were  Isauricus  and  Catul- 
lus, two  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of  Rome.  The  Senate 
was  greatly  alarmed  at  the  success  of  the  popular  leader,  and 
called  to  mind  the  warning  given  them  by  the  sagacious  Sulla, 
who  said,  when  pardoning  Csesar  for  a  refusal  to  divorce  his 
wife  Cornelia,  China's  daughter,  "  This  man  will  be  the  ruin  of 
the  party  of  the  nobles,  for  in  this  one  Caesar  you  will  find 
many  a  Harms ;  "  and  although  Csesar  was  careful  to  wear  the 
latus  clavus,  or  broad  purple  stripe  indicative  of  his  rank,  the 
careless  arrangement  of  his  toga  caused  Sulla  also  to  say  of 
him,  "Beware  of  the  ill-girt  boy*'  (male  prcecinctum  pueruni). — 
SUETONIUS  :  Life. 

Similar  situations  have  called  out  similar  expressions  to 
Csesar's  boast  to  his  mother.  Fiesco,  whose  plot  to  seize  upon 
Genoa,  Jan.  2,  1547,  gave  Schiller  the  subject  of  a  tragedy,  said 
to  his  wife  on  the  eve  of  his  attempt,  "  You  shall  either  never 
see  me  more,  or  you  shall  behold  to-morrow  every  thing  in 
Genoa  subject  to  your  power."  Falling  into  the  water  while 
passing  the  next  day  from  one  ship  to  another,  he  was  drowned 
by  the  weight  of  his  armor. 

Mirabeau,  after  being  the  idol  of  the  populace,  foresaw  the 
change  in  public  sentiment  which  would  be  caused  by  his  sup- 
port of  the  proposition  to  give  the  king,  rather  than  the  Assem- 
bly, the  initiative  of  war,  and,  determined  to  carry  his  point  or 
perish,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  will  either  leave  the  house  in  triumph, 


90  CAIUS  JULIUS   CAESAR. 

or  be  torn  to  fragments."  Hearing  next  day  "  the  great  treason 
of  the  Count  de  Mirabeau  "  cried  in  the  streets,  he  declared  that 
he  needed  not  that  lesson  to  know  how  short  was  the  distance 
from  the  Capitol  to  the  Tarpeian  Rock  (je  n  avals  pas  besoin  de 
cette  lefon  pour  savoir  qu'il  rfy  a  quun  pas  du  Capitole  a  la  roche 
tai'peienne). 

When  one  of  the  Directory,  hesitating  at  the  appointment 
of  Bonaparte  to  the  command  of  the  army  at  the  age  of 
twenty-six,  said  to  him,  "  You  are  too  young ;  "  "  In  a  year," 
he  answered,  "I  shall  be  old  or  dead."  -LOCKHART:  Life, 
IV.  Just  as  Scipio,  conscious  of  his  own  powers,  replied  to 
those  who  objected  to  his  election  as  sedile  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four,  "  If  all  the  quirites  wish  me  to  be  aedile,  I  am  old 
enough." 

Nicholas  of  Russia  found,  on  his  accession  to  the  imperial 
throne  by  the  death  of  Alexander  I.  and  the  renunciation  of  his 
rights  by  his  brother,  the  Archduke  Constantine,  that  an  exten- 
sive conspiracy  against  himself  must  be  subdued  by  force.  He 
said  on  the  morning  when  the  troops  were  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance,  "I  shall  soon  be  an  emperor  or  a  corpse."  His 
energy  saved  his  life  and  his  crown. 

After  Cavour's  secret  visit  to  Napoleon  HI.,  in  1858,  to  interest 
him  in  the  cause  of  Italian  independence,  Victor  Emmanuel  ex- 
claimed, "Next  year  I  shall  be  king  of  Italy  or  plain  M.  de 
Savoie."  Next  year's  battles  of  Magenta  and  Solferino  made 
him  king  of  Italy. 

Caesar's  wife  ought  to  be  free  even  from  suspicion. 

When  summoned  as  a  witness  against  Publicus  Clodius,  his 
wife  Pompeia's  gallant,  who  was  prosecuted  for  the  profanation 
of  religious  ceremonies  (the  mysteries  of  the  Bona  Dea,  to  which 
women  alone  were  admitted),  Csesar  declared  he  knew  nothing  of 
the  affair.  Being  asked  why,  then,  he  had  divorced  his  wife,  he 
replied,  "  Because  my  family  should  be  free  not  only  from  guilt, 
but  even  from  the  suspicion  of  it"  (Quoniam  meos  tarn  suspicione 
quam  crimine  judico  carere  oportere). —  SUETONIUS:  Life.  Plu- 
tarch gives  it,  "Because  I  would  have  the  chastity  of  my  wife 
clear  even  of  suspicion."  —  Life. 


CAIUS  JULIUS   CAESAR.  91 

Better  be  first  in  a  village  than  second  in  Rome. 

Having  received  the  government  of  Farther  Spain  after  his 
praetorship,  he  came  to  a  little  town  in  passing  the  Alps ;  and 
his  friends,  by  way  of  mirth,  took  occasion  to  say,  "  Can  there 
here  be  any  disputes  for  offices,  any  contentions  for  precedency,  or 
such  envy  and  ambition  as  we  see  among  the  great  ?  "  To  which 
Caesar  answered,  with  great  seriousness,  "  I  assure  you  I  had 
rather  be  the  first  man  here  than  the  second  man  in  Rome."  — 
PLUTARCH  :  Life.  "  It  is  the  true  cry  of  nature,"  says  Lacor- 
daire  :  "wherever  we  are,  we  wish  to  be  first."  -  Conferences. 

When  he  was  in  Spain,  he  was  so  much  affected  by  reading 
the  history  of  Alexander  the  Great,  that  he  burst  into  tears. 
When  asked  the  reason,  he  replied,  "Do  you  think  I  have  not 
sufficient  cause  for  concern,  when  Alexander  at  my  age  reigned 
over  so  many  conquered  countries,  and  I  have  not  one  glorious 
achievement  to  boast?"  —  PLUTARCH:  Life.  This  is  some- 
times shortened  into  the  exclamation,  "  Twenty-two  years  old, 
and  nothing  done  for  immortality  ! ' 

He  rebuked  his  friends  for  expressing  their  dislike  of  aspara- 
gus upon  which  sweet  ointment  instead  of  oil  had  been  poured, 
at  the  house  of  Valerius  Leo,  at  Milan,  by  saying,  "  He  who 
finds  fault  with  any  rusticity  is  himself  a  rustic."  —  Ibid. 

The  die  is  cast. 

A  motion  having  been  made  in  the  senate  that  some  person 
should  be  appointed  to  succeed  Caesar  in  Gaul,  before  the 
term  of  his  command  had  expired,  and  that  his  claim  to  be 
a  candidate  at  the  next  election  of  consuls  should  not  be  ad- 
mitted, Caesar  advanced  into  Cisalpine  Gaul,  making  a  halt  at 
Ravenna,  and  sending  his  troops  to  the  banks  of  the  Rubicon, 
now  the  Pisatello,  near  Rimini.  A  very  ancient  law  of  the 
republic  forbade  any  general,  returning  from  the  wars,  to  cross 
this  river  with  his  troops  under  arms.  Caesar,  therefore, 
having  joined  them,  halted  them  upon  the  bank,  and  revolved 
in  his  mind  the  importance  of  the  step  he  was  about  to  take ; 
saying  to  those  around  him,  "We  may  still  retreat;  but,  if  we 
pass  this  little  bridge,  nothing  is  left  for  us  but  to  fight  it  out 
in  arms."  "  While  he  was  thus  hesitating,"  says  Suetonius 


92  CAIUS  JULIUS  OESAB. 

("Life"),  "  a  person  remarkable  for  his  noble  mien  and  grace- 
ful aspect  appeared  close  at  hand,  sitting  and  playing  upon  a 
pipe.  When  not  only  the  shepherds,  but  a  number  of  soldiers 
also,  flocked  from  their  posts  to  listen  to  him,  and  some  trum- 
peters among  them,  he  snatched  a  trumpet  from  one  of  them,  ran 
to  the  river  with  it,  and,  sounding  the  advance  with  a  piercing 
blast,  crossed  to  the  other  side.  Upon  this  Caesar  exclaimed, 
'  Let  us  go  whither  the  omens  of  the  gods  and  the  iniquity  of  our 
enemies  call  us.  The  die  is  now  cast'  '  (Jacta  alea  est ;  or  in 
Greek,  as  Plutarch  states.)  He  thus,  in  the  opinion  of  some, 
embraced  that  occasion  of  usurping  the  supreme  power  which 
he  had  coveted  from  youth ;  two  verses  of  Euripides  being  fre- 
quently in  his  mouth,  translated  into  Latin  by  Cicero  (De  Officiis, 
ILL) 

"  Nam  si  violandum  est  jus,  regnandi  gratia 
Violaiiduni  est:  aliis  rebus  pietatem  colas." 

"  Be  just,  unless  a  kingdom  tempts  to  break  the  laws, 
For  sovereign  power  alone  can  justify  the  cause." 

Pfaeniss.  II. 

What  dost  them  fear?    Thou  art  carrying  Ceesar.    (Quid 
times  ?    Ccesarem  vehis. ) 

While  his  soldiers  were  having  a  tedious  passage  from  Brun- 
disium  to  Dyrrachium,  in  the  campaign  against  Pompey,  Caesar 
went  secretly  on  board  a  small  vessel,  and  discovered  himself  to 
the  pilot  when  the  boat  was  in  danger  of  being  overturned,  ex- 
claiming, as  Plutarch  gives  it  in  his  "  Apothegms  of  Kings  and 
Great  Commanders,"  "  Trust  fortune,  and  know  that  you  carry 
Caesar."  Plutarch,  in  his  "Life  of  Caesar,"  states  that  he  dis- 
guised himself  as  a  slave,  and  in  the  morning  astonished  the 
pilot,  who  wished  to  put  back  owing  to  a  head  wind,  by  saying, 
"Go  forward,  my  friend,  and  fear  nothing:  thou  carriest  Caesar 
and  his  fortune."  Fournier  doubts  the  story,  because  Caesar  did 
not  mention  it  in  his  "History  of  the  Civil  War." 

On  one  occasion  when  Gen.  Jackson  was  sailing  down  Chesa- 
peake Bay  in  an  old  steamboat,  the  waves  were  running  high, 
and  an  elderly  gentleman  present  expressed  some  concern. 
"  You  are  uneasy,  "  said  the  general  to  him :  "  you  never  sailed 
with  me  before,  I  see."  —  PARTON  :  Life. 


CAIUS  JULIUS  (LESAR.  93 

The  order  given  by  Cresar  to  his  veterans  at  Fharsalia,  Aug. 
9,  48  B.C.,  was,  "  Soldiers,  strike  in  the  face."  He  made  but  a 
brief  comment  on  the  result:  "  They  would  have  it  so."  It  was 
proposed,  after  this  decisive  action,  to  erect  at  Rome  in  his 
honor  a  golden  statue  to  Mars  the  Avenger,  and  an  altar  to 
Vengeance;  but  he  refused,  with  words  used  by  Charles  Sum- 
ner,  after  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  :  "  Monuments  are  made 
for  victories  over  strangers :  domestic  troubles  should  be  cov- 
ered with  the  veil  of  sadness." 

Veni,  vidi,  vici. 

Cesar's  laconic  announcement  to  his  friend  Amnitius,  of  his 
victory  over  Pharnaces,  the  son  of  Mithridates,  at  Zela,  in  Asia 
Minor,  47  B.C.,  who  thereby  lost  his  kingdom  and  his  entire 
army.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life.  Suetonius  says  that  among  the  pa- 
geantry of  the  Pontic  triumph,  a  tablet  with  this  inscription 
was  carried  before  him,  "I  came,  I  saw,  I  conquered;"  nbt 
signifying,  as  other  mottoes  on  the  like  occasion,  what  was  done, 
so  much  as  the  despatch  with  which  it  was  done ;  for  Dion 
Cassias  states  that  Caesar  was  proud  of  this  victory  as  of  no 
other,  as  on  the  same  clay  and  in  the  same  hour  in  which  he 
met  the  enemy,  he  attacked  and  defeated  him. 

"  He  saw  me  and  yielded; 
That  I  may  truly  say  with  the  hook-nosed  fellow  of  Rome, 

I  came,  saw,  and  overcame." 

2  Henry  IV.,  IV.  3. 

Equally  brief  announcements  have  been  made  in  modern 
times.  John  Sobieski  sent  the  Mussulman  standards  captured 
before  Vienna  to  the  Pope,  with  the  message,  "I  came,  I  saw, 
God  conquered."  Turenne  announced  the  victory  of  Diinen,  or 
the  Dunes,  by  which  Dunkirk  was  retaken  from  the  Spaniards, 
June  14,  1658,  with  the  words,  "  The  enemy  came,  was  beaten,  I 
am  tired,  good-night."  When  Sivwarrow  informed  Catherine 
II.  of  the  capture  of  Prague  in  1794,  by  writing,  "  Hurrah ! 
Prague !  Suwarrow ! ':  the  empress  promoted  him  in  equally 
concise  terms:  "Bravo!  Field-marshal!  Catherine."  More  fa- 
mous, and  even  briefer,  was  Sir  Charles  Napier's  pun,  announ- 
cing the  victory  of  Hyderabad  in  1843,  "  Peccavi"  (I  have 


94  CAIUS   JULIUS   CJESAR. 

Scinde).  (Before  the  battle  of  Meanee  in  the  same  war,  he  said, 
"If  I  survive,  I  shall  soon  be  with  those  I  love :  if  I  fall,  I  shall 
be  with  those  T  have  loved.")  During  the  Spanish  war  of  inde- 
pendence in  1808,  Gen.  Palafox  was  summoned  by  the  French  be- 
sieging commander,  says  Lockhart  ("Life  of  Napoleon,"  1808), 
to  surrender  Saragossa,  in  these  brief  terms  :  "  Headquarters, 
Santa  Eugrazia  —  capitulation.''  The  reply  was  equally  to  the 
point:  "Headquarters,  Saragossa  —  war  to  the  knife  "  At  the 
end  of  sixty  days  the  French  retired. 

"  War,  war,  is  still  tlie  cry,  — war  even  to  tlie  knife." 

Childe  Harold,  I.  86. 

* 

I  hold  thee  fast,  Africa!     (Te  teneo,  Africa  !) 

C?esar  was  never  deterred  from  any  expedition,  nor  retarded  in 
the  prosecution  of  it,  by  superstition.  Happening  to  fall,  when 
stepping  out  of  the  ship  at  Adrimetum,  in  his  campaign  against 
.the  Pompeian  faction,  he  gave  a  lucky  turn  to  the  omen,  by  ex- 
claiming, "Africa,  I  hold  thee  fast!"  —  SUETONIUS;  Life.  As 
William  the  Conqueror  landed  at  Pevensey  in  England,  Sept.  28, 
1066,  his  foot  slipped,  and  he  fell  with  both  hands  upon  the 
ground.  A  loud  cry  of  grief  was  raised  at  the  evil  omen.  But 
the  ready  wit  of  William  failed  him  not.  "  By  the  splendor  of 
God,"  he  cried,  "I  have  taken  seizin  of  my  kingdom  :  the  earth 
of  England  is  in  my  two  hands." — FREEMAN:  Norman  Conquest, 
III.  chap.  15. 

When  informed  that  Cato  the  younger  had  put  an  end  to  his 
life  after  the  defeat  of  the  Pompeians  at  Thapsus,  46  B.C.,  Caesar 
said,  "  Cato,  I  envy  thee  thy  death,  since  thou  hast  deprived  me 
of  the  honor  of  saving  thy  life."  He  used  his  victims  with 
clemency,  and.  declared,  "  Xo  music  is  so  charming  to  my  ears  as 
the  requests  of  my  friends,  and  the  supplications  of  those  in 
want  of  assistance." 

I  am  not  king,  but  Caesar  (Non  rex  sum,  sed  Ccesar). 

When  given  the  royal  title  by  the  multitude.  He  made  the 
name  of  Caesar  greater  than  that  of  king. 

To  a  coward,  who  boasted  how  many  wounds  he  had  received 
in  the  face,  he  said,  "  You  had  better  take  heed,  the  next  time 
you  run  away,  how  you  look  back." 


CAIUS   JULIUS   CAESAR.  95 

Happening  to  see  some  strangers  in  Rome  carrying  young 
dogs  and  monkeys  in  their  arms,  and  caressing  them,  he  asked 
indignantly,  "  Do  the  women  in  their  country  never  bear  chil- 
dren ?  '  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life  of  Pericles 

When  advised  to  be  on  his  guard  against  some  approaching 
danger,  he  replied,  "  I  had  rather  die  than  be  the  subject  of 
fear."  When  Antony  and  Dolabella  were  accused  of  having 
some  designs  against  his  person  and  government,  he  said,  "I  have 
no  apprehensions  from  those  fat  and  sleek  men :  I  rather  fear 
the  pale  and  lean  ones ; '  meaning  Cassius  and  Brutus.  —  PLU- 
TARCH: Life. 

"  Let  me  have  men  about  me  that  are  fat; 
Sleek-headed  men,  and  such  as  sleep  o'  nights: 
Yond'  Cassius  has  a  lean  and  hungry  look; 
He  thinks  too  much;  such  men  are  dangerous." 

Julius  Coesar,  I.  2. 

Henry  IV.  of  France  was  of  the  same  opinion.  "  Great 
eaters  and  great  sleepers,"  he  said,  "are  incapable  of  any  thing 
else  that  is  great''  (Les  grands  man  gears  et  les  grands  dormeurs 
sont  incapables  de  rienfaire  de  grand}. 

Et  tu,  Brute! 

A  certain  soothsayer  is  said  to  have  forewarned  him  of  a  great 
danger  that  threatened  him  on  the  Ide,s  of  March ;  and  Cresar,  as 
he  was  going  to  the  senate-house  on  that  day,  called  to  him,  and 
said,  laughing,  "  The  Ides  of  JMarch'  are  com©,;  "  to  which  the 
soothsayer  answered  softly,  "Yes,  but  they  are  not  gone."  The 
night  before,  he  supped  with  Lepidus;  and  the  question  arising, 
what  kind  of  death  was  tlie  best,  Caesar  answered,  "  A  sudden 
one  ;  "  or,  "  one  that  is  Teastvexpectea." 

When  he  had  taken  his  seat  in  the  senate-house,  which  stood 
in  the  Campus  Martius  and  was  attached  to  Pornpey's  theatre, 
the  conspirators  came  around  him  to  pay  their  compliments, 
and  Metellus  Cimber  advanced  nearer  than  the  rest,  as  if  to 
make  a  request ;  Caesar  making  a  sign  that  he  should  defer  his 
petition,  Metellus  seized  him  by  the  toga  on  both  shoulders,  and, 
the  signal  being  thus  given,  the  dictator  was  stabbed  with  three 
and  twenty  wounds,  uttering  a  groan  only,  says  Suetonius,  but  no 
cry,  at  the  first  wound ;  although  some  authors  relate,  that,  when 


96  CALIGULA. 


Marcus  Brutus  fell  upon  him,  he  exclaimed,  "  Thou,  my  sou  !  " 
(Kal  ci)  Tenvovl),  or  even  a  longer  exclamation,  "  What!  art  thou, 
too,  one  of  them  ?  Thou,  my  son  !  "  Some  commentators  sup- 
pose that  the  words  "  my  son  "  refer  to  the  relationship  exist- 
ing between  Caesar  and  Brutus;  but  the  expression,  reported 
as  it  is  in  Greek  from  unknown  authors,  —  there  being  no  au- 
thority for  the  familiar  Et  tu  Brute,  —  may  be  regarded  as 
doubtful. 

While  the  conspiracy  against  Cresar  was  being  formed,  Brutus 
called  upon  Ligarius,  and,  finding  him  indisposed,  said,  "  0  Li- 
garius,  what  a  time  is  this  to  be  sick ! "  To  which  Ligarius, 
raising  himself  upon  his  elbow,  replied,  "  If  Brutus  has  any 
design  worthy  of  himself,  Ligarius  is  well."  —  PLUTARCH:  Life 
of  Brutus.  After  the  death  of  Csesar,  Brutus  declared  that  he 
once  dreamed  that  virtue  was  a  thing :  "  I  find  her  only  a  name, 
and  the  mere  slave  of  fortune." 

CALIGULA. 

[Cains  Cresar  Augustus,  third  Roman  emperor,  son  of  Germanicus 
and  Agrippina,  born  A.D.  12;  succeeded  Tiberius  37;  after  the  prom- 
ise of  a  beneficent  reign,  gave  way  to  the  caprice  and  cruelty  of  a 
madman;  exhausted  Italy  by  his  extortions,  and  plundered  the 
provinces,  until  murdered  Jan.  24,  41.] 

Would  that   the   Roman   people   had   but   one  neck! 
(Utinam  populus  Eomanus  unam  cervicem  Jtaberet!) 

When  incensed  at  the  people's  applauding  a  party  at  the  Cir- 
censian  games  in  opposition  to  him.  — SUETONIUS  :  Life.  These 
words  have  been  attributed  to  Xero ;  but  Dion  Cassius  and 
Seneca  agree  with  Suetonius  in  ascribing  them  to  Caligula. 
"  Anger,"  says  Jean  Paul,  "  wishes  all  mankind  had  only  one 
neck ;  love,  that  it  had  only  one  heart ;  grief,  two  tear-glands ; 
pride,  two  bent  knees."  —  Flower,  Fruit,  and  Thorn  Pieces,  IV. 
While  caressing  his  wife  Csesonia's  neck,  Caligula  would  say,  "  So 
beautiful  a  neck  must  be  cut  whenever  I  please''  (Tarn  bona  cer- 
vix simul  ac  jussero  demetur)  ;  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  translated, 
"  Fair  as  it  is,  how  easily  I  could  sever  it !  '  Xow  and  then, 
says  Suetonius,  he  would  threaten  to  put  his  dear  Csesonia  to 
the  torture,  that  he  might  discover  why  he  loved  her  so  passion- 


CHARLES  DE   CALONNE.  97 

ately.  At  a  sumptuous  entertainment  he  fell  suddenly  into  a 
violent  fit  of  laughter ;  and  upon  the  consuls,  who  reclined  next 
to  him,  respectfully  asking  the  occasion,  "  Nothing,"  replied  he, 
"  but  that,  upon  a  single  nod  of  mine,  you  might  both  have  your 
throats  cut."  —  Ibid. 

Strike  so  that  he  may  feel  himself  die !  (Ita  fen  ut  se  mori 
sentiat !) 

His  well-known  and  constant  order,  prolonging  the  sufferings 
of  his  victims  by  causing  slight  and  frequently  repeated  strokes 
to  be  inflicted  upon  them.  —  Ibid.  When  about  to  murder  his 
brother,  whom  he  suspected  of  taking  antidotes  against  poison, 
he  said,  "  Find,  then,  an  antidote  against  Caesar !  " 

CHARLES  DE  CALONNE. 

[A  French  courtier  and  minister,  born  at  Douai,  1734;  controller* 
general  of  the  finances,  1783;  after  attempting  to  supply  deficits  by 
loans  and  temporary  expedients,  was  dismissed,  1787;  lived  in  exile 
during  the  Revolution;  died,  1802.1 

Madam,  if  it  is  but  difficult,  it  is  done :  if  it  is  impos- 
sible, it  shall  be  done  (se  /era). 

The  words  with  which  the  light-minded  courtier,  who  was 
incapable  of  the  patient  execution  of  an  elaborate  plan,  and, 
whose  only  wish  was  to  supply  present  wants  without  a  thought 
of  the  morrow,  received  a  request  of  Marie  Antoinette  for  a 
considerable  sum  of  money,  made  with  the  air  of  a  queen  to 
whom  nothing  could  be  refused. 

GEORGE   CANNING. 

[An  English  statesman,  orator,  and  wit,  born  in  London,  April  11, 
1770;  educated  at  Oxford ;  entered  Parliament,  1793;  under-secretary 
of  state,  1796;  issued  with  others  "The  Anti- Jacobin ;"  secretary  of 
state  for  foreign  affairs,  1807,  and  again  in  1822;  prime  minister,  1827; 
died  in  August  of  that  year.] 

I  called  the  New  "World  into  existence  to  redress  the 
balance  of  the  Old.  , 

In  a  speech,  Dec.  12,  1326,  on  the  relations  between  Great 
Britain  and  Portugal.  The  whole  passage  was,  "If  France 


98  GEORGE   CAXXIXG. 

occupied  Spain,  was  it  necessary,  in  order  to  avoid  the  conse- 
quences of  that  occupation,  that  we  should  blockade  Cadiz  ? 
No,  I  looked  another  way :  I  sought  materials  of  compensation 
in  another  hemisphere.  Contemplating  Spain,  such  as  our 
ancestors  had  known  her,  I  resolved,  that,  if  France  had  Spain, 
it  should  not  be  Spain  'with  the  Indies.  I  called  the  New 
World  into  existence  to  redress  the  balance  of  the  Old." 

In  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons  against  parliamentary 
reform,  Canning  exclaimed,  "  Reform  the  Parliament !  Repeal 
the  Union  !  Restore  the  Heptarchy  !  ;  as  if  the  latter  two  were 
as  feasible  as  the  former.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  expres- 
sion used  in  1834  by  Sir  Robert  Peel,  in  reply  to  a  speech  of 
Daniel  O'Connell  in  favor  of  repeal ;  '•  Repeal  the  Union !  as 
well  restore  the  Heptarchy  !  " 

Ah !  but  you  were  tedious. 

Canning  replied  to  a  clergyman  who  asked  him  how  he  liked 
his  sermon,  "  It  was  short;  "  at  which  the  clergyman  said,  "Yes, 
you  know  I  avoid  being  tedious  : '  "  Ah  !  but  you  were  tedious," 
rejoined  Canning. 

When  a  new  ministry  was  formed  containing  Addington 
(Lord  Sidmouth),  who  was  successively  chancellor  of  the  ex- 
chequer, first  lord  of  the  treasury,  and  home  secretary,  and  whose 
presence  in  every  administration  was  considered  necessary  in 
order  to  please  George  III.,  Canning  remarked,  "He  is  like  the 
small-pox:  everybody  must  have  it  once." 

Sir  Harry  Halford,  a  distinguished  physician,  quoted  in  com- 
pany the  saying,  "  Every  man  is  a  physician  or  a  fool  at  forty." 
Canning  slyly  asked,  "  Sir  Harry,  mayn't  he  be  both  ?  "  The 
saying  is  attributed  to  Tiberius,  but  Plutarch  ("  Preservation  of 
Health")  assigns  to  the  emperor  the  assertion  that  "he  was 
a  ridiculous  man  that  held  forth  his  hand  to  a  physician  after 
sixty." 

When  Lord spoke  of  a  picture  he  had  seen,  represent- 
ing the  procession  of  animals  into  Noah's  Ark,  the  elephants 
coming  last  and  filling  up  the  foreground,  Canning  explained  it 
by  saying,  "Your  elephants  —  wise  fellows  —  staid  behind  to 
pack  up  their  trunks." 


CARACTACUS.  09 


CARACTACUS. 

[King  of  the  Silures,  a  tribe  of  ancient  Britons;  after  long  resist- 
ance to  Roman  arms,  was  defeated,  and  carried  to  Rome,  A.D.  51; 
died  about  54.] 

Is  it  possible  that  a  people  possessed  of  so  much 
magnificence  at  home  could  envy  my  humble  cot- 
tage in  Britain? 

On  beholding  the  splendor  of  Rome.  The  Emperor  Claudius 
received  him  kindly,  and  gave  him  his  liberty,  and,  according  to 
some  writers,  allowed  him  still  to  reign  in  part  of  Britain  as  a 
prince  subject  to  Rome.  —  FREEMAN  :  Old  English  History. 

THOMAS   CARLYLE. 

[Born  at  Ecclefechan,  Scotland,  1795  ;  educated  at  Edinburgh 
University;  began  his  literary  career,  1823;  removed  to  London,  and 
published  "Sartor  Resartus,"  1834;  "The  French  Revolution,"  1837; 
"  Oliver  Cromwell,"  1845;  "  Frederick  the  Great,"  1858-64;  died  Feb. 
5,  1881.] 

God  has  put  into  every  white  man's  hand  a  whip  to 
flog  the  black. 

On  meeting  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  in  1848.  Emerson  called 
him  "a  trip-hammer,  with  an  2Eolian  attachment." 

In  his  address  as  Lord  Rector  of  Edinburgh  University  in  1866, 
Carlyle  made  use  of  the  following  expressions:  "Beautiful  is 
young  enthusiasm ;  keep  it  to  the  end,  and  be  more  and  more 
correct  in  fixing  on  the  object  of  it.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to  be 
wrong  in  that,  —  the  source  of  all  our  miseries  and  confusions 
whatever." 

"  The  deepest  depth  of  vulgarism  is  that  of  setting  up  money 
as  the  ark  of  the  covenant." 

"  Can  there  be  a  more  horrible  object  in  existence  than  an 
eloquent  man  not  speaking  the  truth  ?  " 

"Xew  truths  are  not  the  gifts  which  the  old  offer  to  the 
young :  the  lesson  we  learn  last  is  but  the  fulness  of  the  mean- 
ing of  what  was  only  partially  apprehended  before." 

Give  your  life  royally. 

Great  men  are  not  born  among  fools. 


100  CAROLINE   MATILDA. 

The  unspeakable  Turk. 

In  a  letter  to  a  meeting  at  St.  James's  Hall,  London,  in  1877, 
called  to  discuss  the  Eastern  question,  and  the  part  that  Europe 
should  take  in  it,  Mr.  Carlyle  wrote :  "  The  unspeakable  Turk 
should  be  immediately  struck  out  of  the  question,  and  the 
country  be  left  to  honest  European  guidance." 

In  a  discussion  of  the  authorship  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  Car- 
lyle said,  "  Lord  Bacon  could  as  easily  have  created  the  planets 
as  he  could  have  written  'Hamlet.' 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  he  bitterly  remarked,  "  They 
will  not  understand  that  it  is  death  I  want." 

Arthur  Hugh  Clough,  the  poet  (1819-61),  said  of  Carlyle  in 
1849,  "He  has  taken  us  into  the  desert;  and  he  has  left  us  there." 
De  Quincey  remarked  to  the  great  iconoclast,  after  the  publica- 
tion of  "  Latter-Day  Pamphlets,"  in  1850,  "  You've  shown,  or 
you've  made,  another  hole  in  the  tin  kettle  of  society :  how  do 
you  propose  to  tinker  it  ?  " 

Of  Carlyle 's  critical  powers  Goethe  said,  "  Criticism  is  our  weak 
point.  We  shall  have  to  wTait  a  long  time  before  we  meet  with 
such  a  man  as  Carlyle." 


CAROLINE   MATILDA. 

[Queen  of  Denmark,  sister  of  George  III.;  born  in  England,  1751; 
married  Christian  VII.  of  Denmark,  a  weak  and  profligate  king, 
by  whom  she  was  neglected  or  ill-treated;  Struensee,  a  physician, 
acquired  great  influence  over  both  king  and  queen,  and  was  made 
prime  minister;  in  consequence  of  a  conspiracy,  he  was  executed, 
and  the  queen  banished  to  Zell,  where  she  died,  1775.] 

O  God,  keep  me  innocent ;  make  others  great ! 

The  fate  of  this  illustrious  and  unhappy  princess,  who,  in  a 
letter  to  George  III.  on  the  day  before  her  death,  protested  in 
passionate  terms  her  innocence  of  all  the  charges  which  led  to 
her  banishment,  gives  a  melancholy  interest  to  the  words  which 
she  scratched  with  the  point  of  a  diamond  on  a  window  of  the 
castle  of  Frederiksborg :  "  O  mon  Dieu,  conserve-moi  innocente, 
donne  la  grandeur  aux  autres!  ' 


LORD   CASTLEREAGH.  101 


LORD   CASTLEREAGH. 

[Robert  Stewart,  Viscount  Castlereagh,  and  Marquis  of  London- 
derry, a  British  statesman;  born  in  Ireland,  1769;  entered  the  British 
House  of  Commons,  1794;  president  board  of  control,  1802;  secretary 
for  war,  1805;  for  foreign  affairs,  1812;  represented  England  at  the 
Congresses  of  Vienna,  Paris,  and  Aix-la-Chapelle;  committed  suicide 
Aug.  12,  1822.] 


The  ignorant  impatience  of  taxation. 

When  the  income-tax  was  thrown  out  in  1816.  Mr.  Gladstone 
quoted  this  expression  on  introducing  his  commercial  treaty 
budget  in  1860 ;  saying,  that,  if  the  author  of  that  phrase  could 
again  take  his  place  in  the  House,  he  would  be  more  likely  to 
complain  of  an  ignorant  patience  of  taxation. 

"  While  Lord  Castlereagh  never  showed  the  least  symptom 
of  any  information  extending  beyond  the  more  recent  volumes  of 
the  4  Parliamentary  Debates,'  "  says  Lord  Brougham,  "  or  possibly 
the  files  of  the  newspapers  only,  his  diction  set  ali  imitation, 
perhaps  all  description,  at  defiance."  —  Historical  Sketches  of 
Statesmen.  Thus  he  once  spoke  of  "  the  right  honorable  gentle- 
man turning  his  back  upon  himself."  "On  another  occasion," 
says  Earl  Russell,  "  he  had  gone  on  for  an  hour,  speaking  upon 
what  subject  no  man  could  guess,  when  he  exclaimed  of  a  sud- 
den, '  So  much,  Mr.  Speaker,  for  the  law  of  nations.'  At 
another  time,  when  he  had  spoken  for  an  hour,  tediously  ami 
confusedly,  he  declared,  '  I  have  now  proved  that  the  Tower  of 
London  is  a  common  law  principle.'"  "Thomas  Moore's  an- 
swer," says  Jennings  ("  Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament  "),  to 
the  question,  '  Why  is  a  pump  like  Viscount  Castlereagh  ? '  will 
be  remembered :  — 

'  Because  it  is  a  slender  thing  of  wood, 
That  up  and  down  its  awkward  arm  doth  sway, 
And  coolly  spout  and  spout  and  spout  away, 
In  one  weak,  washy,  everlasting  flood.'  " 

When  some  one  asked  Talleyrand,  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna, 

*/  '  O 

who  that  personage  was,  undistinguished  by  decorations,  the 
French  representative  replied  that  it  was  Lord  Castlereagh;  and 
added,  "  and  sufficiently  distinguished  "  (c'est  Lien  distingue). 


102  CATHERINE  II. 


CATHERINE  II. 

[Empress  of  Russia;  born  at  Stettin,  1729;  married  Peter,  after- 
wards emperor,  1745;  deposed  him  during  the  first  year  of  his  reign, 
1762,  when  she  became  sole  mistress  of  the  empire;  of  profligate  life, 
but  great  abilities,  she  promoted  education  and  commerce,  patron- 
ized scientific  men,  and  extended  her  dominions  on  the  Black  Sea; 
was  a  party  to  the  partition  of  Poland,  1772;  died  1796.] 

Your   wit  makes  others  witty  (Votre  esprit  en  donne  aux 
autres). 

In  a  letter  to  Voltaire. 

Falstaff  said,  "  I  am  not  only  witty  in  myself,  but  the  cause 
that  wit  is  in  other  men."  —  2  Henry  IV.,  I.  2. 

During  his  visit  to  Russia,  Diderot  noticed  the  uncleanliness  of 
the  peasants,  then  serfs.  "  Why,"  replied  the  empress,  "should 
they  take  care  of  a  body  which  does  not  belong  to  them?" 
(Pourrjuoi  auraient-ils  soin  d'un  corps  qui  ne  lew  appartient  pas?) 
Diderot  apologized  on  a  certain  occasion  for  touching  her  knee 
in  the  heat  of  an  argument.  The  empress  put  him  at  his  ease  at 
onqe  :  "  Let  there  be  no  ceremony  between  men  "  (Entre  homines 
tout  est  permis).  She  once  closed  a  conversation  with  Diderot 
and  Grimm;  to  attend  to  affairs  of  state,  by  saying,  "Now  I 
must  see  how  my  bread  is  baking  "  (Maintenant  il  faut  songer  au 
gayne-pain). 

One  of  her  maxims  was,  "  I  praise  loudly,  I  blame  softly  " 
(Je  hue  tout  haut,je  gronde  tout  bas). 

Diderot  described  his  royal  hostess  as  having  "  the  soul  of 
Brutus  with  the  charms  of  Cleopatra."  Speaking  of  the  situa- 
tion of  St.  Petersburg,  he  told  her  that  "  a  capital  at  the  end  of 
one's  kingdom  is  like  the  heart  at  the  end  of  one's  fingers " 
(avoir  le  capitale  au  bout  de  son  royaume,  c'est  avoir  le  cceur  au 
lout  de  ses  doiyts).  He  is  reported  to  have  spoken  of  the  Rus- 
sian empire  as  "rotten  before  it  is  ripe."  Joseph  II.  called  it 
"a  colossus  of  brass  on  a  pedestal  of  clay." 

CATHERINE  OF  Alt  AGON. 

[Spelled  also  Katharine.  Daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of 
Spain,  born  I486;  married  Arthur,  eldest  son  of  Henry  VII.  of  Eng- 
land, 1501;  and,  on  his  death,  his  brother,  afterwards  Henry  VIII., 
who  afterwards  divorced  her;  died  1536. 


CATHERINE   DE   MEDICI.  103 

I  have  done  England  little  good,  but  I  should  be  sorry 
to  do  it  any  harm. 

To  the  commissioners,  after  her  divorce  from  Henry  VIII. 
She  also  said,  "  I  would  rather  be  a  poor  beggar's  wife  and  be 
sure  of  heaven,  than  queen  of  all  the  world  and  stand  in  doubt 
thereof  by  reason  of  my  own  consent." 

CATHERINE  DE  MEDICI. 

[Daughter  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  Duke  of  Urbino;  born  in  Flor- 
ence, 1519;  married  the  dauphin,  afterwards  Henry  II.,  1533;  on  the 
death  of  her  son,  Francis  II.  (1560),  became  regent  for  Charles  IX.,  a 
minor;  instigated  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  Aug.  24, 
1572;  died  1589.] 

We  shall  soon  say  our  prayers  in  French. 

When  the  Huguenots,  who  conducted  their  services  in  the 
vernacular,  were  reported  to  be  gaining  the  upper  hand,  during 
the  minority  of  Charles  IX.  When  another  of  her  sons,  Henry 
III.,  told  her  that  he  had  made  himself  king  of  France  by  kill- 
rig  the  Duke  of  Guise,  "the  king  of  Paris,"  in  1588,  Catherine 
shrewdly  remarked,  "  Take  care  that  you  do  not  soon  find  your- 
self king  of  nothing."  The  next  year  he  was  assassinated  by 
Jacques  Clement. 

MARCUS  FORCIUS  CATO. 

[A  model  of  antique  Roman  virtue,  called  Cato  for  his  wisdom, 
also  "the  Censor,"  and  "the  Elder,"  born  at  Tusculuni,  B.C.  234; 
served  against  the  Carthaginians;  gained  repute  as  an  orator,  and 
settled  in  Rome,  where  he  rose  to  be  consul  and  censor,  reforming 
many  abuses;  strongly  advised  the  third  Punic  war;  died  B.C.  149. 

It  is  a  hard  matter  to  save  that  city  from  ruin  where 
a  fish  is  sold  for  more  than  an  ox. 

Complaining  of  the  luxury  of  the  Romans. 

Speaking  of  the  power  of  women,  he  said,  "  All  men  natural- 
ly govern  the  women,  we  govern  all  men,  and  our  wives  govern 
us."  Plutarch  says  that  this  might  have  been  taken  from  the 
Apothegms  of  Themistocles ;  for,  as  his  son  directed  in  most 
things  through  his  mother,  he  said,  "  The  Athenians  govern  the 


104  MARCUS  PORCIUS   CATO. 

Greeks ;  I  govern  the  Athenians  ;  you,  wife,  govern  me ;  and 
your  son  governs  you  :  let  him  use,  then,  that  power  with  moder- 
ation, which,  child  as  he  is,  sets  him  above  all  the  Greeks." 

Cato  found  fault  with  the  people  for  often  choosing  the  same 
persons  consuls  :  "  You  either  think  the  consulate  of  little  worth, 
or  that  there  are  but  few  worthy  of  the  consulate." 

It  was  a  saying  of  his,  that  "  Wise  men  learn  more  from  fools, 
than  fools  from  the  wise ;  for  the  wise  avoid  the  error  of  fools, 
while  fools  do  not  profit  by  the  examples  of  the  wise." 

Another  of  his  sayings  was,  that  he  "  liked  a  young  man  that 
blushed,  more  than  one  that  turned  pale."  Diogenes,  seeing  a 
youth  blush,  said,  "  Right,  my  boy :  that  blush  is  the  favorite 
color  of  virtue." 

"  The  man  that  blushes  is  not  quite  a  brute." 

YOUNG:  Night  Thoughts,  VII.  496. 

I  cannot  live  with  a  man  whose  palate  has  quicker 
sensations  than  his  heart. 

When  an  epicure  desired  to  be  admitted  into  his  friendship. 

He  used  to  say,  "  The  soul  of  a  lover  lives  in  the  body  of 
another." 

In  all  his  life  he  never  repented  but  of  three  things :  "  The 
first  was,  that  he  had  trusted  a  woman  with  a  secret ;  the  second, 
that  he  had  gone  by  sea,  when  he  might  have  gone  by  land ; 
third,  that  he  had  passed  one  day  without  having  a  will  by 
him." 

He  reproved  an  old  debauchee  by  saying,  "  Old  age  has  de- 
formities enough  of  its  own :  do  not  add  to  it  the  deformity  of 
vice."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

"Every  one,"  he  said,  "ought  especially  to  reverence  himself, 
for  every  one  is  always  in  his  own  presence,"  —  PLUTARCH  : 
Apothegms. 

When  he  saw  many  had  their  statues  set  up,  "I  had  rather," 
he  remarked,  "  men  should  ask  why  Cato  had  no  statue,  than 
why  he  had  one."  —  Ibid. 

It  was  one  of  his  sayings,  "They  that  separate  honor  from 
virtue  separate  virtue  from  youth.''  —  Ibid. 


MARCUS   PORCIUS   CATO.  105 

An  angry  man,  in  his  opinion,  differs  from  a  madman  only  in 
the  shorter  time  his  passion  endures. 

"  Ira  furor  brevis  est." 

HORACE:  Epistles,  I.  2,  62. 

Man  must  depart  from  life  as  from  an  inn,  not  as  from 
a  dwelling. 

Life  bears  to  eternity  the  relation  of  an  inn  to  a  fixed  dwell- 
ing. Yet  to  some  the  comparison  would  have  but  little  force,  as 
Dr.  Johnson  declared  that  nothing  which  had  been  contrived 
by  man  had  produced  so  much  happiness  as  a  good  tavern  or 
inn.  -  -  Bos  WELL  :  Life,  1776.  At  another  time  he  called  a  tavern- 
chair  "the  throne  of  human  felicity."  Falstaif  asks,  "Shall  I 
not  take  mine  ease  in  mine  inn?  "  (1  Henry  IV \,  III.  3.) 

But  Shenstone  wrote  on  the  window  of  an  inn :  — 

"  Whoe'er  lias  travelled  life's  dull  round, 

"Where'er  his  stages  may  have  been, 
May  sigh  to  think  he  still  has  found 
The  warmest  welcome  at  an  inn." 

The  best  way   to   keep   good   acts   in   memory   is  to 
refresh  them  with  new. 

He  declared  the  Romans  to  be  like  sheep :  "  a  man  had  better 
drive  a  flock  of  them  than  one  of  them ;  for  in  a  flock,  if  you 
can  get  but  a  few  of  them  to  go  right,  the  rest  will  follow."  — 
PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

"Those  magistrates,"  he  said,  "who  could  prevent  crime,  and 
do  not,  in  effect  encourage  it." 

He  was  told  that  Greek  was  such  a  language  as  the  gods  speak 
in  :  "  I  would  learn  it,  that  I  may  speak  with  the  gods  in  their 
own  dialect."  Cicero  said  of  Plato's  "Dialogues,"  that  if  Jupiter 
were  to  speak,  he  would  speak  as  Plato  did.  The  Emperor 
Charles  V.  declared,  "  Spanish  is  the  language  to  speak  with 
God." 

A  soothsayer  must  laugh  when  he  meets  another. 

Preserved  by  Cicero  ("De  Divinatione,"  "De  Natura  Deorum," 
and  in  "Brutus").  Soothsaying -- that  is,  foretelling  future 
events  by  an  inspection  of  the  entrails  of  animals,  or  declaring 


106  MARCUS  PORCIUS   CATO. 

by  such  means  whether  an  action  could  properly  be  undertaken 
at  a  particular  time  —  had  fallen  into  disrepute,  and  superstition 
generally  was  derided.  Thus  Cato  met  one  morning  a  friend, 
who  seemed  to  be  in  trouble,  and  who  said  he  was  afraid  some 
evil  was  about  to  befall  him,  as,  on  waking  that  morning,  he 
saw  a  mouse  gnawing  his  shoe.  "  Calm  yourself,"  replied  Cato  : 
"  the  prodigy  would  have  been  indeed  frightful  if  the  shoe  had 
gnawed  the  mouse."  Claudius  Pulcher,  when  told,  on  the  eve 
of  a  naval  battle  with  the  Carthaginians,  that  the  sacred  hens 
would  not  eat,  threw  them  into  the  sea,  exclaiming,  "  Let  them 
drink,  then."  Claudius  was,  however,  defeated.  When  Hanni- 
bal learned  that  the  sacrifice  seemed  unfavorable  to  the  imme- 
diate action  which  he  proposed,  he  said  scornfully,  "  Will  you 
believe  in  a  calf's  liver  rather  than  in  a  tried  general?  '  Csesar 
declared  in  his  African  campaign,  "I  will  have  better  omens 
when  I  choose;"  and  Pyrrhus parodied  a  line  of  Hector's  speech, 
"  The  best  of  omens  is  the  cause  of  Pyrrhus." 

Delenda  est  Carthago. 

The  entire  sentence,  "  Ceterum  censeo  Cartlmginem  esse  delen- 
dam"  is  not  found  in  any  Latin  author,  but  is  translated  from 
Plutarch's  "Life  of  Cato."  Latin  authors,  from  Cicero,  "  De 
Senectute,"  to  Aurelius  Victor  and  Pliny,  give  the  indirect  quo- 
tation, "  Carthaginem  delendam  censuit."  Cato,  having  visited 
Carthage  after  the  battle  of  Zama,  B.C.  172,  and  remarked  its 
large  army,  immense  store  of  provisions,  and  riches  of  all  kinds, 
returned  to  the  senate,  and  denounced  the  prosperity  of  their 
rival,  letting  fall  a  Libyan  fig  he  had  concealed  under  his  toga. 
When  all  had  admired  its  beauty  and  freshness,  "  The  land 
which  produced  it,"  said  Cato,  "  is  but  three  days'  journey  from 
Rome."  Thereafter  he  closed  every  speech  in  the  senate  with 
the  words,  "  And  my  opinion  is,  that  Carthage  should  be  de- 
stroyed;" for  he  thought  it  dangerous,  says  Plutarch,  to  suffer 
a  city  which  had  always  been  great,  and  which  was  now  grown 
sober  and  wise  through  its  misfortunes,  to  lie  watching  every 
advantage  against  them.  —  Life. 

Cato  w7as  prosecuted  in  his  old  age,  no  less  than  fifty  charges 
being  made  against  him  ;  the  last  when  he  was  eighty-six  years 
old,  on  which  account  he  said,  "  It  is  hard  that  I,  who  have  lived 


CAVOUR.  107 


with  men  of  one  generation,  should  be  obliged  to  make  my  de- 
fence to  those  of  another."  —  Ibid.  Goethe  says  he  was  right; 
"for  how  can  a  jury  judge  from  premises  of  which  they  know 
nothing?  or  consider  motives,  which  lie  far  behind  them?" 
Goethe  has  elsewhere  declared  that  "  a  man  should  be  tried  by 
a  jury  of  his  peers."  —  Die  Aufyeregten,  III.  1. 


CAVOUR. 

[Camille  Benso,  Count  di  Cavour,  an  illustrious  Italian  statesman; 
born  at  Turin,  Aug.  10,  1810;  elected  to  the  Sardinian  chamber  of 
deputies,  1849,  after  having  for  years  defended  the  cause  of  Ital- 
ian independence  by  voice  and  pen;  minister  of  commerce,  1850;  of 
finance,  1851,  prime  minister,  1852;  arranged  with  Napoleon  III.  the 
war  against  Austria,  1859,  but  resigned  after  the  peace  of  Villa 
Franca;  resumed  office,  1860,  and  was  the  first  prime  minister  of  the 
kingdom  of  Italy;  died  June  6,  1801.] 

In  my   dreams  I  see  myself  already  minister  of  the 
kingdom  of  Italy. 

In  a  letter  to  the  Marchese  Barollo,  as  early  as  1833,  when 
Italian  independence  was  but  a  dream,  he  showed  what  was  the 
ruling  thought  of  his  life.  The  cause  to  which  he  devoted  him- 
self was  the  constitutional  unity  of  his  country,  the  entire  penin- 
sula. "Italy,"  he  said,  "must  be  made  by  liberty,  or  I  despair 
of  making  her  at  all."  He  explained  the  condition  of  things 
following  the  defeat  of  Xovara,  and  the  abdication  of  Charles 
Albert,  in  1849,  by  the  simple  statement,  "We  existed,  and 
every  day's  existence  was  a  gain." 

He  silenced  a  deputy  who  laughed  while  he  was  praising 
English  institutions  in  the  Sardinian  Parliament,  by  suggesting 
that  "  the  laugh  could  only  proceed  from  some  one  wrhose  name 
has  never  reached  England." 

His  recipe  against  being  ennuye  was  effective :  "  I  persuade 
myself  that  no  one  is  tiresome." 

"  In  politics,"  he  declared,  "nothing  is  so  absurd  as  rancor." 

Cavour  was  never  married.  He  parried  the  jokes  of  the  king 
on  the  subject  of  his  celibacy  by  an  allusion  to  the  nobler  devo- 
tion of  his  life  :  "  Italy  is  my  wife  :  I  will  never  have  another." 


108  COMTE  DE  CHAMBORD. 

Any  one  can  govern  by  a  state  of  siege. 

In  his  last  illness ;  referring  to  government  by  armed  force, 
when  the  laws  are  for  the  time  being  suspended. 

In  a  speech  after  the  annexation  of  Naples  by  Garibaldi  in 
1860,  he  made  the  important  announcement'  which  will  be  for- 
ever associated  with  the  name  of  Cavour:  "We  are  ready  to 
proclaim  in  Italy  this  principle,  ;  A  free  church  in  a  free  state.'  " 
They  were  also  his  last  words,  to  the  priest  in  attendance  upon 
him:  " Frafe,  frate,  libera  cltiesa  in  libero  stato."  Montalembert 
wrote  in  the  preface  to  his  own  works,  published  in  Paris  in 
1860  :  "  In  a  word,  the  free  church  in  a  free  state  has  been  the 
programme  which  led  me  to  my  first  efforts,  and  which  I  con- 
tinue to  regard  as  just  and  true,  reasonable  and  practical,  after 
the  studies  and  struggles  of  thirty  years." 

COMTE  DE  CHAMBORD. 

[Henri,  Due  de  Bordeaux,  son  of  the  Due  de  Berri  who  was 
assassinated  in  1820,  and  grandson  of  Charles  X.;  born,  in  Paris 
1820;  since  the  Revolution,  has  lived  out  of  France;  is  the  last  direct 
representative  of  the  elder  branch  of  the  French  Bourbons,  and  is 
called  by  his  adherents  Henri  Cinq.] 

I  will  never  consent  to  become  the  legitimate  king  of 
the  Revolution  (Je  ne  consentirai  jamais  a  devenir  le  roi  legi- 
time  de  la  Revolution). 

He  wrote  in  May,  1871,  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  of  the 
Legitimists  to  effect  a  monarchical  restoration  :  "  To  the  country 
belongs  the  word,  to  God  the  hour"  (La  parole  est  a  la patrie, 
riieure  est  a  Dieu). 

In  1873  a  fusion  took  place  betwreen  the  Orleanists,  or  the 
adherents  of  the  younger  branch  of  the  Bourbons,  represented 
by  the  Comte  de  Paris,  grandson  of  Louis  Philippe,  and  the 
Legitimists,  who  rallied  around  the  Comte  de  Chambord. 
Thiers  had  been  forced  from  the  presidency ;  a  re-actionary  cabi- 
net under  his  successor,  Marshal  MacMahon,  stood  ready  to  over- 
throw the  existing  form  of  government.  The  "hour"  seemed 
to  have  come:  it  was  only  necessary  to  give  the  "wTord."  The 
efforts  of  the  Fusionists  were  directed  to  obtaining  the  consent 
of  the  Comte  de  Chambord,  in  the  event  of  his  restoration,  to 


SEBASTIAN  CHAMFORT.  109 

the  adoption  of  the  tricolor,  the  badge  of  the  Revolution, 
originally  the  colors,  red,  white,  and  blue,  of  the  Due  d'Orleans 
(Egalite),  as  the  national  flag  of  France,  instead  of  the  white 
flag  and  the  fleurs-de-lis  of  Henry  IV.,  the  first  Bourbon  king. 
However  much  a  matter  of  sentiment  it  might  seem  to  be, 
Marshal  MacMahon  himself,  by  birth  and  education  a  Legiti- 
mist, but  all  his  life  a  soldier  under  the  tricolor,  saw  the  folly 
of  an  attempt  to  return  to  a  flag  with  which  the  present  genera- 
tion of  Frenchmen  was  unacquainted.  In  a  conversation  with 
the  Orleanist,  Due  d'Audriffet-Pasquier,  he  is  reported  to  have 
said,  although  he  subsequently  denied  it,  "  If  the  white  flag 
were  raised  in  opposition  to  the  tricolor,  the  chassepots  would  go 
off  of  themselves!  "  (Si  le  drapeau  blanc  etait  developpc  en  face 
du  drapeau  tr/colore,  les  chassepots  partiraient  tout  seuls .')  The 
attempt  was  unavailing*  The  Comte  de  Chambord  refused  to 
recognize  a  "legitimated  revolution."  "  Henry  V.,"  he  replied, 
"cr.nnot  abandon  the  white  flag  of  Henry  IV.  '  (Henri  Cinq  ne 
peut  abandonner  le  drapeau  blanc  de  Henri  Quatre).  As  the 
Orleans  princes,  on  their  side,  could  not  give  up  the  colors 
which  symbolized  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the  revolutions 
of  1789  and  1830,  by  which  they  had  risen  to  power,  the  fusion 
failed  of  practical  results ;  and  the  "  exile  of  Frohsdorf ' '  re- 
mained Henri  Cinq  only  to  a  waning  group  of  politicians  and 
grandes  dames. 

The  cliassepot  in  the  mot  attributed  to  Marshal  MacMahon 
was  a  breech-loading  rifle  (named  after  its  inventor,  M.  Chasse- 
pot),  which  was  adopted  by  the  government  in  1866,  and  first 
used  by  the  French  force,  which,  with  the  papal  troops,  defeated 
Garibaldi  at  Mentana,  Nov.  3,  1867.  In  his  report  of  the  battle 
Gen.  de  Failly  said,  "  The  cliassepot  has  done  wonders." 

SEBASTIAN  CHAMFORT. 

[A  satirical  French  writer,  born  in  Auvergne,  1741;  lived  mostly 
in  Paris;  admitted  to  the  Academy,  1781;  was  the  friend  of  Mira- 
beau,  and  favored  the  Revolution,  "  Tableaux  "  of  which  he  pub- 
lished; died,  1794,  after  being  arrested  by  the  Jacobins.] 

What  is  the  Third  Estate? 

Chamfort  furnished  ideas  to  other  men,  who,  like  Mirabeau, 
enjoyed  "  brushing  the  most  electric  head  in  Europe : "  of  him 


110  SEBASTIAN   CHAMFOET. 

Mine.  Roland  said  that  "he  made  one  laugh  and  think  at 
the  same  time."  Visiting  one  day  the  Comte  de  Lauraguais, 
he  said,  "  I  have  just  done  a  piece  of  work  '"  (J'ai  fait  un  ou- 
vraye).  "What!'1  said  his  friend,  "a  book?"  oucraye  having 
in  French  the  double  meaning  that  "  work "'  has  in  English. 
"Xo,  I  am  not  such  a  fool,"  replied  Chamfort;  "but  the  title 
of  a  book.  I  gave  it  to  that  Puritan  Sieyes :  lie  can  comment 
on  it  at  his  leisure  ;  but,  do  what  he  may,  the  title  alone  will 
last."  The  title  was:  "What  is  the  Third  Estate?  Every 
thing.  What  part  has  it  in  government  V  Xothing.  What 
does  it  want?  To  become  something."  (Qu'est-ce  que  le  Tiers 
Etat?  Tout.  Qu'a-t-il?  Rien.  Que  veut-il?  Y  devenir  quelque 
chose.)  The  pamphlet  which  Sieyes  wrote  with  that  title  immor- 
talized him  :  the  title  alone  remains.  In  his  essay  the  consti- 
tution-maker attempted  to  prove  that  the  Third  Estate,  the 
commonalty,  as  distinguished  from  the  nobles  and  the  clergy, 
formed  a  nation  complete  in  itself,  which  could  exist  without 
the  other  two  orders,  while  they  were  nothing  without  it. 

Chamfort  was  also  the  author  of  the  mot  d'ordre,  "  War  to  the 
castle,  peace  to  the  cabin  !  "  (Guerre  aux  chateaux,  paix  aux  cliau- 
mieres.'),  which  was  called  by  Alison  "the  principle  of  the  Revo- 
lution," and  was  promulgated  by  Cambon,  a  merchant  and 
financier,  who  was  the  last  president  of  the  Legislative  Assembly, 
a  member  of  the  committee  of  public  safety,  and  who,  after  the 
fall  of  Robespierre,  directed  for  a  time  the  finances  of  the 
republic. 

"I  shall  not  believe  in  the  Revolution,"  said  Chamfort,  "until 
cabs  go  at  a  walk"  (Je  ne  croirai  pas  a  la  revolution  que  quand 
les  cabriolets  vont  au  pas) ;  which  was  equivalent  to  saying, 
"until  rich  people  in  carriages  cease  to  run  down  poor  foot- 
passengers  "  (ecrasser  les  passants).  "The  man,"  sa}~s  Sainte- 
Beuve,  "who  wanted  a  cab  for  himself  in  1782,  and  obtained 
none,  wished  no  one  to  have  one  in  1792."  In  the  opinion  of 
conservatives  like  Sainte-Beuve,  personal  resentments  furnish  the 
motives  of  revolutions.  Louis  XV.  would  have  suppressed  cabs 
altogether :  "  If  I  were  lieutenant  of  police,  I  would  prohibit 
those  Paris  cabriolets." — Journal  of  Afme.  du  Hausset,  293. 

Chamfort's  paraphrase  of  the  watchword  of  the  Revolution, 
"Fraternity  or  death,"  which  he  called  a  "brotherhood  of 


CHARLES  I.  HI 


Cain,"  was,  "Bo  my  brother,  or  I  will  kill  thee"  (Sols  won 
frere,  ou  je  te  (ue).  Thus  Carlyle  quotes  "  fiery  Isnard  ":  "We 
will  have  equality,  should  we  descend  for  it  to  the  tomb." 
—  French  Revolution,  II.,  1,  12.  Goethe  wrote  in  the  second  vol- 
ume of  his  posthumous  "  Aphorisms  :  "  "  What  sort  of  liberality 
is  that  which  everybody  talks  about,  but  will  hinder  his  neigh- 
bor from  practising  ?  '  Chamfort  said  of  the  early  acts  of  the 
Revolution,  "  The  French  are  a  new  people,  which  has  as  yet  only 
organized  insurrection  :  it  is  little,  but  better  than  nothing." 
When  Marmontel  was  regretting  these  excesses,  Chamfort  asked 
him,  "  Do  you  think  that  revolutions  are  made  with  rose-water?  " 
(  Voulez-vous  done  qu'on  vous  fasse  des  revolutions  a  Ueau-rose  ?)  — 
Autobiography  of  Marmontel. 

Every  man  who  at  forty  years  of  age  is  not  a  misan- 
thrope has  never  loved  his  race  ( Tout  homme  qui  a  qua- 
rante  cms  riest  pas  miscDithrope  n'ajamais  aime  les  homines). 

Chamfort  divided  his  friends  into  three  classes  :  "  the  friends 
who  love  me,  the  friends  who  do  not  trouble  themselves  about 
me,  and  the  friends  who  detest  me." 

He  said  of  himself,  "My  head  is  Tacitus,  my  heart  Tibullus" 
(J\ii  du  Taclte  dans  la  tete,  et  du  Tibulle  dans  le  co2ur}.  "  Neither 
one  nor  the  other,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "  left  either  his  head  or 
his  heart  for  the  good  of  posterity." 

Chamfort  called  chance  "a  nickname  for  Providence."  He 
considered  marriage  "  a  fine  invention  to  interest  us  as  much  in 
the  future  as  in  the  present." 

He  prefixed  the  nobiliary  particle  de  to  his  name ;  and  when 
the  Due  de  Crequi  said  a  name  was  nothing,  Chamfort  replied, 
"  It  is  easy  to  say  that ;  but  call  yourself  M.  Criquet,  instead  of 
M.  le  Due  de  Crequi,  and  see  the  effect  when  you  enter  a  draw- 


ing-room." 


CHARLES  I. 

[King  of  England;  bom  1600;  succeeded  James  I.,  1625;  became 
involved  in  contests  with  Parliament  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  on 
the  granting  of  supplies;  and,  having  dissolved  three  Parliaments  in 
succession,  determined  to  reign  without  one;  finally  summoned  the 
Long  Parliament  in  1640,  which  declared  war  upon  him,  in  the  course 
of  which  he  was  imprisoned,  tried,  and  executed  Jan.  50,  1649.] 


112  CHARLES   II. 


If  I  granted  your  demands,  I  should  be  no  more  than 
the  mere  phantom  of  a  king. 

To  the  Long  Parliament,  which  demanded  the  power  of  con- 
trolling military,  civil,  and  religious  appointments.  At  an  early 
period  he  defined  the  relations  between  a  king  and  his  subjects 
thus :  "  The  people's  liberties  strengthen  the  king's  prerogative, 
and  the  king's  prerogative  is  to  defend  the  people's  liberties." 

When  Charles  entered  the  House  of  Commons  to  arrest  Pym, 
Hampden,  Holies,  Hazlerig,  and  Strode,  Jan.  4,  1642,  he  called 
upon  Speaker  Lenthall  to  tell  him  whether  they  were  present. 
The  Speaker  made  the  historic  answer:  "I  have  neither  eyes  to 
see,  nor  ears  to  hear,  save  as  the  commons  of  England  them- 
selves do  direct."  —  "  Well,  well,"  replied  the  king,  "I  think  my 
eyes  are  as  good  as  another's."  Failing,  however,  to  discover  the 
members,  he  added,  "  Since  I  see  all  my  birds  have  flown,  I  do 
expect  from  you  that  you  will  send  them  unto  me  as  soon  as 
they  return  hither." 

Nothing  is  so  contemptible  as  a  despised  prince. 

Before  his  execution. 

Xapoleon  wrote  to  his  brother  Joseph,  king  of  Naples,  in 
April,  1806,  in  displeasure  at  his  conduct,  "An  exiled  and  vaga- 
bond king  is  a  silly  personage  "  (C'est  un  sot  personage  que  celui 
(Tun  roi  exile  et  vagabond}. 

On  the  scaffold  Charles  said,  "  I  go  from  a  corruptible  to  an 
incorruptible  crown,  where  no  disturbance  can  take  place."  His 
last  word,  spoken  to  Bishop  Juxon,  was,  "  Remember ! "  It  is 
supposed  to  refer  to  a  message  to  his  son  Charles,  counselling 
him  to  forgive  the  enemies  and  murderers  of  his  father.  Thus 
Phocion,  when  asked,  before  drinking  the  hemlock,  if  he  had 
any  message  for  his  son,  sent  this  :  u  I  command  and  entreat  you 
not  to  think  of  any  revenge  upon  the  Athenians." 

CHARLES  II. 

[King  of  England,  son  of  Charles  I.;  born  May  29,  1G30;  landed  in 
Scotland,  1049,  and  was  crowned  at  Scone;  defeated  at  Dunbar  and 
Worcester;  fled  to  France,  but  was  restored  to  the  English  throne, 
1660;  joined  the  triple  alliance  against  Louis  XIV.,  with  whom  he 
soon  made  a  secret  treaty;  died  1685.] 


CHARLES  II.  113 


My  sayings  are  my  own,  my  actions  are  my  minis- 
ters'. 

In  reply  to  a  verse  which  Lord  Rochester  wrote  and  fastened 
to  the  king's  bedroom-door :  — 

"  Here  lies  our  sovereign  lord  the  king, 

Whose  word  no  man  relies  on: 
He  never  says  a  foolish  thing, 
Nor  ever  does  a  wise  one." 

It  was  of  Rochester,  who  was  removed  from  the  treasury  and 
made  lord  president,  —  a  more  dignified  but  less  important  posi- 
tion,—  that  Viscount  Halifax  said,  "I  have  seen  people  kicked 
down-stairs  before,  but  my  Lord  Rochester  is  the  first  person 
that  I  ever  saw  kicked  up-stairs." 

One  of  the  king's  sayings  which  became  a  proverbial  expres- 
sion was,  "as  good  as  a  play."  It  was  said  of  the  debates  on 
Lord  Ross's  Divorce  Bill,  which  he  attended  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  because,  says  Macaulay,  "they  amused  his  sated 
mind." 

Asking  Stillingfleet  \vhy  he  read  his  sermons,  the  bishop 
answered,  it  was  from  awe  of  his  majesty;  asking  the  king,  in 
turn,  why  he  read  his  speech  from  the  throne,  Charles  replied, 
"  Because  I  have  asked  them  so  often  for  money,  that  I  am 
ashamed  to  look  them  in  the  face." 

Mr.  Cowley  has  not  left  a  better  man  behind  him  in 
England. 

On  the  death  of  Abraham  Cowley,  the  poet,  in  1667. 

George  III.  passed  a  different  verdict  upon  ex-Chancellor 
Loughborough,  when  told  of  his  death :  "  Then  he  has  not  left 
a  greater  knave  behind  him  in  my  dominions."  It  was  this  un- 
scrupulous politician  who,  when  Alexander  AVedderburn,  made- 
an  unjustifiable  attack  upon  Benjamin  Franklin  before  the  Privy 
Council  in  1774;  accusing  him  of  obtaining  surreptitiously,  and! 
sending  to  America,  some  letters  of  government  officials  in. 
Boston,  upon  the  receipt  of  which  the  Americans  petitioned  for 
the  removal  of  Gov.  Hutchinson  and  others.  After  making  this 
charge,  AA^edderburn  added,  "  He  will  henceforth  esteem  it  a  libel 
to  be  called  a  man  of  letters,  —  this  man  of  three  letters ; 


" 


CHAELES  II. 


alluding  to  the  Latin  word  for  thief,  fur.  Plautus  speaks  of  a 
thief  being  a  man  of  three  letters  (trium  litterarum  homo). 
Franklin  remained  silent  during  this  attack ;  but  it  was  re- 
marked, that  when,  as  American  commissioner,  he  signed  the 
treaty  of  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with  France,  in  1778, 
he  wore  the  same  suit  of  Manchester  velvet  as  on  his  appear- 
ance before  the  Privy  Council.  It  was  all  the  revenue  the  ami- 

«/  O 

able  philosopher  desired;  but  Horace  Walpole  wrote,  Dec.  11, 
1777:  "If  I  were  Franklin,  I  would  order  the  cabinet  council 
to  come  to  me  at  Paris  with  ropes  about  their  necks,  and  kick 
them  back  to  St.  James's." 

My  Chancellor  Cooper  (Shaftesbury)  knows  more  law 
than  all  my  judges,  and  more  divinity  than  all  my 
bishops. 

Shaftesbury,  satirized  by  Dryden  under  the  name  of  Achit- 
ophel,  served  and  betrayed  a  succession  of  governments,  but 
timed  his  treacheries  to  promote  his  fortune.  To  him  is  at- 
tributed—  as  to  Fontenelle  and  St.  Evremond-- the  reply  to 
the  question  of  what  religion  he  was :  "  I  am  of  the  religion 
of  all  sensible  men;"  and  when  asked  what  that  was:  "That 
all  sensible  men  agree  not  to  tell."  This  definition  is  used  by 
Lord  Beaconsfield  in  "  Endymion,"  without  acknowledgment 
(chap.  Ixxxi.).  Whatever  his  religion  may  have  been,  King- 
Charles  knew  him  well  enough  to  say  to  him  when  Lord 
Ashley,  "  You  are  the  wickedest  dog  in  my  dominions ; "  to 
which  he  coolly  replied,  "Of  a  subject,  I  think  I  am.: 


5> 


It  is  the  custom  here  for  but  one  man  to  be  allowed 
to  stand  uncovered. 

Removing  his  hat,  when  he  saw  that  the  Quaker  William 
Penn,  during  an  audience  of  his  Majesty,  stood  covered.  Penn, 
however,  said,  "  Friend  Charles,  keep  thy  hat  on  "  ! 

During  a  visit  of  the  king  to  Westminster  School,  Dr.  Busby, 
who  held  the  position  of  master  for  fifty-five  years,  and  educated, 
it  is  said,  a  greater  number  of  distinguished  men  than  any  other 
teacher  who  ever  lived,  kept  his  hat  on;  giving  as  an  excuse, 
"  The  scholars  must  not  know  that  I  have  a  superior,  else  it 
would  be  all  over  with  my  authority." 


CHARLES  II.  115 


Charles  II.  was  a  good-natured  monarch,  who  did  not  feel 
attacks  upon  his  royal  dignity.  When  told  by  a  man  in  the 
pillory,  that  he  was  there  for  making  pasquinades  on  the  minis- 
try, "  Fool,"  exclaimed  the  king,  "  why  didn't  he  make  them  on 
me  ?  Then  nothing  would  have  happened  to  him  ! ' 

A  Frenchman,  Gourville,  told  Charles  in  1674,  that  a  king  of 
England  who  would  be  the  man  of  his  people  would  be  the 
greatest  monarch  in  the  world.  "I  will  be  the  man  of  my 
people,"  replied  the  king. 

His  brother,  the  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II.,  gave 
Charles  some  advice  in  1685,  on  a  certain  point,  which  the  latter 
thought  would  provoke  the  people  to  resistance.  "  Brother,"  he 
said,  with  a  keen  insight  into  James's  character,  "  I  am  too  old 
to  go  again  to  my  travels  :  you  may,  if  you  choose  it."  The 
duke  once  warned  him  against  walking  out  without  guards; 
alluding  to  James's  unpopularity,  the  king  replied,  "  You  may 
depend  upon  it  that  nobody  will  ever  think  of  killing  me  to 
make  you  king." 

The  old  fool  has  taken  more  executions  in  that  naked 
country  than  I  for  the  murder  of  my  father. 

Of  the  conduct  of  Gov.  Berkeley  of  Virginia,  in  executing  the 
adherents  of  Nathaniel  Bacon,  who  raised  a  force  against  the 
Indians  without  the  governor's  commission,  and  became  involved 
in  conduct  considered  treasonable.  Berkeley  was  recalled  after 
these  executions  and  confiscations  of  estates,  and  died  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  England,  "imbittered  in  his  last  moments,  accord- 
ing to  a  most  probable  story,  by  the  well-earned  gibe  which  the 
amiable  Charles  flung  at  him."  —  LODGE:  English  Colonies  in 
America. 

Charles  said  of  George,  Prince  of  Denmark,  the  good-natured 
but  dull  husband  of  the  future  Queen  Anne,  "I  have  tried  him 
drunk  and  sober,  and  can  find  nothing  in  him." 

When  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  afterwards  William  III.,  all 
of  whose  thoughts  were  on  war,  married  Mary,  daughter  of  the 
Duke  of  York,  the  king  said  by  way  of  friendly  warning, 
"Nephew,  remember  that  love  and  war  do  not  agree  well 
together." 

He   remarked  of  the  first  Earl  Godolphin,  who  held  many 


116  CHARLES  II. 


important  offices  under  the  last  Stuarts,  William  and  Mary,  and 
Anne,  "  Sidney  Godolphin  is  never  in  the  way,  and  never  out  of 
the  way."  Burnet  calls  him  "the  silentest  and  rnodestest  man 

v 

who  was  perhaps  ever  bred  in  a  court." 

Jeffreys,  afterward  the  infamous  judge,  and  minion  of  James 
II.,  resigned  the  recordership  of  London,  on  being  reprimanded 
by  the  House  of  Commons,  which  petitioned  the  king  to  remove 
him  from  all  his  offices,  in  1680:  "Jeffreys  is  not  Parliament- 
proof,"  remarked  Charles. 


Presbytery  is  no  religion  for  a  gentleman. 

To  the  Earl  of  Lauderdale,  who  was  captured  at  Worcester 
and  appeared  at  the  Restoration  "  in  a  new  suit  of  clothes,"  says 
Carry le  ;  "  gave  up  presbytery,  not  without  pangs ;  and  set  about 
introducing  the  Tulchan  apparatus  into  Scotland;  failed,  as  is 
well  known,  and  earned  from  the  Scotch  people  deep-toned  uni- 
versal sound  of  curses,  not  yet  inaudible."  —  Cromwell1  s  Letters 
and  Speeches.  "  I  took  up  my  politics,"  said  Sir  Walter  Scott  of 
his  school-days,  "as  King  Charles  II.  did  his  religion,  from  an 
idea  that  the  Cavalier  creed  was  the  more  gentlemanlike  persua- 
sion of  the  two." 


For  its  merit  I  will  knight  it,  and  then  it  will  be 
sir-loin. 

On  asking  the  name  of  a  piece  of  beef  which  particularly 
pleased  him,  and  being  told  it  was  the  loin,  the  king  gave  it  the 
name  it  has  since  borne. 


Do  not  let  poor  Nelly  starve ! 

On  his  death-bed;  of  Eleanor  Gwynne,  a  celebrated  beauty, 
who  was  born  in  London  about  1650,  and,  after  she  had  achieved 
success  as  an  actress,  became  the  king's  mistress. 

When  the  queen,  Catherine  of  Braganza,  asked  the  dying 
king's  pardon  for  any  offence  she  might  unwittingly  have  given 
him,  he  exclaimed,  "  She  ask  my  pardon,  poor  woman !  I  ask 
hers  with  all  my  heart !  " 


CHARLES  V.  117 


CHARLES   V. 

[King  of  Spain  and  the  Netherlands;  born  in  Ghent,  February, 
1500;  became  king,  1516;  elected  Emperor  of  Germany,  1519;  de- 
feated Francis  I.  of  France,  at  Pa  via,  1525;  in  opposition  to  a  second 
coalition,  his  army  under  the  Constable  de  Bourbon  took  Rome,  1527; 
attacked  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany,  1547,  but  was  defeated 
at  Innspruck,  and  put  to  flight;  abdicated  his  hereditary  dominions 
in  favor  of  his  son  Philip,  and  resigned  the  imperial  crown,  1555; 
retired  to  the  monastery  of  St.  Just  in  Spain,  where  he  died,  Sept. 
21,  1558.] 

Then  he  never  snuffed  a  candle  with  his  fingers. 

Reading  upon  the  tombstone  of  a  Spanish  grandee,  "  Here  lies 
one  who  never  knew  fear."  —  BOSWELL'S  Johnson,  1769. 

Marshal  Lannes  said  to  a  colonel  who  punished  a  young  officer 
for  cowardice  in  his  first  engagement,  "  Know,  colonel,  that  no 
one  but  a  poltroon  will  boast  that  he  never  was  afraid."  Julian 
the  Apostate  declared  that  "  the  only  inheritance  I  have  received 
from  my  ancestors  is  a  soul  incapable  of  fear ;  "  and  the  Regent 
Morton  did  not  exaggerate,  when  he  said  at  the  grave  of  John 
Knox,  Nov.  26,  1572,  "Here  lies  one  who  never  feared  the  face 
of  mortal  man." 

When  Charles  saw  Martin  Luther  for  the  first  time,  the  plain 
appearance  of  the  reformer  caused  the  emperor  to  say,  "  That  man 
certainly  will  never  induce  me  to  turn  heretic"  (Hie  certe  nunquam 
efficeret  ut  hereticus  evadereni).  Years  afterwards,  when  Charles 
had  deposed  the  rebellious  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  the  Duke  of 
Alva  wished  to  disturb  Luther's  grave  at  Wittenberg,  the  mon- 
arch, more  magnanimous  than  the  subject,  refused,  saying,  "I 
wrage  war  against  the  living,  not  the  dead!  Let  him  rest  in 
peace  :  he  is  before  his  judge." 

When  his  staff  urged  him  not  to  expose  himself  in  action,  he 
replied,  "Xame  me  an  emperor  who  was  ever  struck  by  a  cannon- 
ball." 

What  a  beautiful  retreat  for  another  Diocletian ! 

Passing  through  the  valley  of  St.  Just,  in  Estramadnra,  Spain, 
to  which  he  retired  on  his  abdication.  Diocletian,  the  Roman 
emperor,  closed  a  reign  marred  only  by  a  persecution  of  the 
Christians,  by  abdicating,  A.D.  305,  in  favor  of  Galerius,  and 


118  CHARLES  Y. 


retired  to  cultivate  his  garden  at  Salona,  in  Dalmatia.  He 
replied  to  the  urgent  wish  of  his  former  colleague,  Maximian, 
that  he  should  resume  power,  by  saying,  "If  Maximian  could 
see  the  cabbages  planted  by  my  own  hands  at  Salona,  I  should 
no  longer  be  urged  to  relinquish  the  enjoyment  of  happiness  for 
the  pursuit  of  power."  It  was  otherwise  with  Charles;  and  the 
interest  he  still  took  in  the  affairs  of  the  empire  led  Philip  II. 
to  say  when  Cardinal  Granvella  remarked,  "It  is  a  year  ago  to- 
day that  your  father  abdicated,"  "  And  a  year  ago  to-day  that 
he  began  to  repent  of  it."  The  day  after  his  abdication, 
Charles  presented  his  secretary  to  Philip  with  the  words,  "  The 
present  I  make  you  to-day,  my  son,  is  greater  than  that  I  made 
you  yesterday." 

When  his  jester  asked  him  if  he  raised  his  cap  to  him  because 
he  was  no  longer  "emperor,  he  replied,  "  Xo,  Pedro,  but  because  I 
have  nothing  but  this  poor  courtesy  to  give  you." 


How  absurd  to  try  to  make  two  men  think  alike  on 
matters  of  religion,  when  I  cannot  make  two  time- 
pieces agree ! 

Robertson  states  that  the  emperor  wTas  particularly  curious 
with  regard  to  the  mechanism  of  clocks  and  watches ;  and,  hav- 
ing found  after  repeated  trials  that  he  could  not  bring  any  two 
of  them  to  go  exactly  alike,  he  reflected  with  a  mixture  of  sur- 
prise and  regret  on  his  own  folly  in  having  bestowed  so  much 
time  and  labor  on  the  more  vain  attempt  of  bringing  mankind  to 
a  precise  uniformity  of  sentiment  concerning  the  profound  and 
mysterious  doctrines  of  religion. — History  of  the  Reign  of  Charles 
V.  This  anecdote,  however,  lacks  authenticity;  for  Robertson 
only  gives  it  as  a  report.  It  rests,  indeed,  upon  no  trustworthy 
foundation,  and  is  inconsistent  with  the  views  upon  religious 
subjects,  especially  in  regard  to  the  Protestant  reformation,  which 
Charles  expressed  during  his  life  at  St.  Just. 

The  emperor's  first  motto  was  Nondum  ("Xot  yet");  ex- 
changed for  Plus  ultra  ("  More  beyond  "),  "  the  audacious 
phrase,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "  which  gave  the  lie  to  the  Pillars 
of  Hercules/'  —  the  limit  of  the  world  to  the  ancients,  but  a 
mere  outpost  of  Spanish  dominion. 


CHARLES   IX.  119 


CHARLES  IX. 

[King  of  France;  born  1550;  ascended  the  throno,  15GO;  declared 
of  age,  15(>3;  during  his  reign  the  Huguenots  were  persecuted  until 
the  massacre  of  Aug.  24,  1572,  called  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew's Day,  destroyed  ten  thousand  of  them  in  Paris  alone;  died, 
after  suffering  the  agonies  of  remorse,  1574.] 

Young  as  I  am,  I  can  bear  my  own  sword. 

Refusing  to  fill  the  office  of  constable  of  France,  after  the 
death  of  the  Due  de  Montmorency  in  1567. 

The  wound  is  yours:    the  pain  is  mine  (La  blessure  est 
pour  vous,  la  douleur  est  pour  moi). 

Visiting  Admiral  de  Coligny,  who  had  been  wounded  in  the 
hand  by  Tosinghi,  a  Florentine  partisan  of  the  Guises,  two 
days  before  the  massacre  of  Aug.  24.  The  king  disliked  the 
house  of  Guise,  of  whose  avarice  his  brother,  Francis  II.,  had 
said,  that  "they  would  strip  the  kings  of  France  of  their  last 
shirt."  Charles  was,  therefore,  probably  sincere  in  his  regret  at 
the  outrage  committed  upon  the  venerable  Huguenot.  Had 
Coligny  been  killed  by  the  Florentine,  as  was  intended,  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Day  would  not  have  occurred. 
The  narrative  of  the  Venetian  ambassador  of  that  time  fixes  the 
responsibility  for  both  acts  upon  the  queen-mother,  with  the 
single  participation  of  the  Due  d'Anjou,  afterwards  Henry  III. ; 
the  Guises  gave  a  silent  acquiescence  to  the  plan,  which  was 
withheld  from  the  king  until  the  last  moment.  -  -  La  Diplomatic 
venitienne,  I.  552,  553. 

When,  on  the  fatal  night  of  the  24th,  the  assassins  entered  his 
chamber,  the  wounded  admiral  said  to  their  leader,  "  Young- 
man,  tliou  shouldst  respect  my  gray  hairs :  nevertheless,  thou 
canst  abridge  my  life  but  little  "  (auxsi  bien  ne  feras-tu  ma  vie 
plus  Irene}.  The  Due  de  Guise  called  out  from  below,  when 
told  that  the  admiral  was  dead,  "  Fling  him  out  that  we  may 
see  him!  "  and  then  kicked  the  dead  body,  saying,  "Lie  there, 
venomous  serpent :  you  will  shed  your  poison  no  more ! '"  (bete 
ve'ne'neuxe,  tu  ne  rc'pandras  done  plus  ton  venin .') 

According  to  hitherto  undisputed  history,  Charles  IX.,  on  the 
morning  of  the  25th,  seized  a  long  fowling-piece,  and  fired  from 


120  CHAELES  IX. 


a  window  of  the  Louvre  upon  the  flying  Huguenots.  Even  his 
cry  of  "Kill,  kill!  let  none  be  left  to  reproach  me!"  has  been 
brought  in  to  heighten  the  effect.  When,  two  days  afterwards, 
a  Huguenot  was  killed  near  him,  he  exclaimed,  in  anticipation 
of  the  remorse  which  was  soon  to  devour  him,  "  Would  to  God 
it  were  the  last !  " 

Fournier  devotes  many  pages  of  his  sixth  edition  to  prove, 
what  he  had  been  attacked  for  attempting  in  his  first,  that 
Charles  IX.  did  not  fire  upon  the  Huguenots.  The  main  au- 
thorities for  the  tradition  have  been  Brantome,  who  was  not  in 
Paris  at  the  time ;  and  d'Aubigne,  who  had  left  Paris  three  days 
before  the  massacre,  and  whose  strong  partisan  feelings  unfit  him 
for  an  historian.  Sully,  also  a  Huguenot,  who  nearly  lost  his 
life  in  the  massacre,  does  not  mention  the  king's  participation 
in  it;  and  a  Huguenot  pamphlet  called  "The  Tocsin  against 
the  Massacres  and  other  Confusions  in  France,"  published  in 
1579,  only  seven  years  after  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  speaks  as 
follows :  "  Although  one  would  have  thought  that  so  great 
a  slaughter  would  sate  the  cruelty  of  the  young  king,  a  woman, 
and  many  important  persons  of  their  suite,  nevertheless,  they 
Seemed  to  grow  the  more  infuriated  the  greater  the  outrage 
became ;  for  the  king,  on  his  side,  spared  nothing  towards  it, 
not  that  he  put  a  hand  to  it "  (non  pas  qud  y  mist  les  mains),  but 
because,  being  at  the  Louvre  while  the  massacre  was  going  on 
in  the  city,  he  commanded  that  the  names  of  the  killed  or  pris- 
oners should  be  brought  to  him,  in  order  that  due  deliberation 
might  be  made  concerning  those  whom  it  was  necessary  to 
guard  or  put  out  of  the  way."  This  is  considered  strong  proof 
by  implication  that  Charles  was  innocent  of  the  cruelty  charged 
upon  him.  Fournier,  in  a  note  to  p.  203  of  "L'Esprit,"  men- 
tions two  other  Protestant  writings  where  the  story  of  the 
fowling-piece  is  given  as  a  mere  on  dit.  The  building,  a  window 
of  which  is  pointed  out  to  travellers  as  that  from  which  Charles 
IX.  fired  upon  the  Huguenots,  was  not  built  until  long  after 
1572.  In  a  letter  of  the  king's  discovered  in  1812,  which  he 
wrote  the  day  after  the  massacre  to  the  Due  de  Longueville, 
governor  of  Picardy,  he  says  that  he  was  not  able  to  oppose  the 
massacre,  nor  apply  any  remedy  to  it;  "  having  enough  to  do  to 
employ  my  guards  and  other  forces,  to  hold  myself  as  securely 


CHARLES   IX.  121 


as  possible  within  this  chateau  of  the  Louvre,  in  order  to  ap- 
pease the  sedition  throughout  the  whole  city,  and  prevent  other 
massacres,  which  I  should  marvellously  regret "  (ayant  en  assez 
a  f cure  a  employer  mes  y circles  et  autres  forces,  pour  me  tenir  le  plus 
fort  en  ce  chasteau  du  Louvre,  pour  apres  falre  donner  par  toute  la 
ville  de  V  appaisement  cle  la  sedition,  et  pour  precenir  d'autres  mas- 
sacres, dont  faurois  un  merve'dleux  reyreC). 

A  mot  which  Brantome  attributes  to  Charles  IX.,  that  in  the 
case  of  rebels  "  it  is  cruelty  to  be  humane,  and  humane  to  be 
cruel,"  is  from  a  sermon  of  Muis,  Bishop  of  Bitonte,  which 
Catherine  de  Medici  was  in  the  habit  of  quoting  to  her  son.  — 
Histoire  Universelle  d'Aubigne',  II.  i.  2.  The  letter  in  which  the 
Vicomte  d'Orthez  refused  to  massacre  the  Huguenots  of  Bay- 
onne,  as  commanded  by  the  king,  is  considered  by  Fournier  an 
invention  of  d'Aubigne.  In  it  he  said,  "  Sire,  I  have  communi- 
cated the  command  of  your  majesty  to  his  faithful  subjects  and 
soldiers  of  the  garrison :  I  have  found  here  only  good  citizens 
and  brave  soldiers,  but  not  a  headsman  "  (je  u'y  cd  trouve  que 
bons  citoyens  et  braves  soldats,  mais  pas  un  bourreau*).  No  historian 
follows  d'Aubigne  here  ;  nor  is  it  well  applied  to  this  particular 
officer,  whose  cruelty  to  the  Huguenots  of  Bayonne  and  Navarre 
was  so  inhuman  that  it  called  forth  a  rebuke  from  Charles  IX 
himself,  which  was  confirmed  by  a  letter  of  Catherine  de  Me- 
dici. Finally,  M.  de  Larroque  discovered  in  the  imperial  library 
a  letter  of  Orthez,  dated  August,  1572,  the  month  of  the  massa- 
cre of  St.  Bartholomew's,  in  which  he  promised  the  king  to  cause 
those  with  whose  custody  he  is  charged  "  to  live  in  such  a  man- 
ner" (de  fere  v'wre  en  tel  poinct),  "that  no  trouble  should  be 
feared  from  them ; "  that  is,  that  Catholics  and  Protestants 
should  be  restrained  from  mutual  attacks  and  massacres.  — 
FOURNIER  :  212,  note. 

Later  investigations  destroy  the  authenticity  of  another  horri- 
ble mot  of  the  religious  wars,  —  that  of  the  Pope's  legate,  Arnaud, 
abbot  of  Citeaux,  who,  when  besieging  Beziers,  a  stronghold  of 
the  Albigenses,  in  1207,  with  Simon  de  Montfort,  gave  the  order, 
"Kill  all:  God  will  recognize  his  own!"  (Tuez-les  tous,  Dieu 
connaitra  bien  ceux  qul  sont  a  lui!}  Sixty  thousand  persons, 
including  old  men,  women,  and  children,  were  said  to  have 
been  massacred  in  accordance  with  this  command. 


122  CHAKLES  X. 


CHARLES  X. 

[King  of  France,  youngest  brother  of  Louis  XVI  ;  born  1757;  joined 
the  royalist  emigration,  1789;  entered  Paris  with  the  allies,  1814; 
succeeded  his  brother,  Louis  XVIII.,  1824;  gradually  surrounded 
himself  with  re-actionary  ministers,  until  the  violation  of  the  char- 
ter, July  25,  1830,  caused  the  three  days'  revolution,  at  the  end  of 
which  Charles  ceased  to  reign;  retired  to  Englaud,  and  thence  to 
Goritz,  Austria,  where  he  died,  October,  1836.] 

Nothing  is  altered  in  France :  there  is  only  one  French- 
man more  (II  riy  a  rien  de  change  en  France:  il  n'y  a  qu'un 
Franqais  de  pZws). 

An  expression  contained  in  a  proclamation  issued  by  Charles 
when  Count  d'Artois,  and  published  in  the  "  Moniteur,''  or 
official  newspaper,  upon  the  restoration  of  Louis  XVIII.,  April 
12,  1814.  In  discussing  the  authorship  of  this  famous  remark, 
Buchmami  ("  Gefliigelte  Worte  ")  calls  attention  to  its  unfortu- 
nate similarity  with  the  "phrase,"  to  use  Sieves'  word,  em- 
ployed by  Camille  Desmoulins  in  voting  for  the  death  of  Louis 
XVI.,  Charles's  brother:  "A  dead  king  is  not  a  man  less"  (Un 
roi  mart  n'est  }xis  un  Jtomme  le  mains}.  The  phrase  did  not,  how- 
ever, originate  with  the  Count  d'Artois,  but,  according  to  "  The 
Contemporary  Review,"  February,  1854,  formed  the  opening  of 
an  address  composed  in  his  name  by  Count  Beugnot,  at  the 
instigation  of  Talleyrand,  Chancellor  Pasquier  and  others,  to 
allay  any  fear  that  the  restoration  meant  a  return  to  the  ideas 
of  the  old  regime.  The  address  began  as  follows :  "  Xo  more 
controversy !  Peace  and  France  !  Finally  I  behold  it  again : 
nothing  therein  is  changed  except  that  there  is  one  Frenchman 


more." 


The  mot  became  so  popular  that  it  was  parodied  on  all  occa- 
sions. The  arrival  of  the  first  giraffe  in  Paris  was  celebrated  by 
the  circulation  of  a  medal  bearing  the  words,  "Xothing  is 
changed:  there  is  only  one  animal  more"  (il  riy  a  qu'un  bete  de 
plus},  in  which  a  sarcastic  allusion  to  the  Bourbons  may  be  de- 
tected, bete  having  a  contemptuous  signification  unknown  to  its 
English  equivalent.  When  Francis  I.,  Emperor  of  Austria,  died 
in  1835,  and  Prince  Metternich  remained  at  the  head  of  affairs, 
which  he  conducted  in  the  same  re-actionary  spirit  as  before,  it 


CHAKLES  XII.  123 


was  said,  "Nothing  is  altered:  there  is  only  one  Austrian  less." 
On  the  appointment  of  Talleyrand  to  be  vice-grand  elector  of  the 
empire,  Fouche  said,  "  Among  so  many  offices  it  \vill  not  count . 
it  is  only  one  vice  more'*  (ce  n'est  qu'un  vice  de plus). 

I  have  no  wish  to  ride  like  my  brother  in  a  cart. 

That  is,  in  the  tumbril  of  the  Revolution ;  or,  as  it  is  some- 
times given,  "  I  would  rather  mount  a  horse  than  the  cart," 
rather  exile  than  death.  When  urged  to  make  concessions  to 
the  feeling  which,  in  July,  1830,  broke  out  in  revolution, 
Charles  X.  preferred  abdication  to  death ;  as  his  brother,  in  his 
opinion,  perished  by  yielding  too  much.  Asserting  at  another 
time  that  there  was  no  middle  course  between  the  throne  and 
the  scaffold,  Talleyrand  maliciously  suggested  the  post-chaise. 

Before,  however,  setting  out,  as  Charles  II.  said,  on  his  trav- 
els, the  king  attended  a  ball  given  at  the  Palais  Royal,  June 
5,  1830,  to  the  king  of  Naples,  by  his  brother-in-law  the  Due 
d'Orleans,  soon  to  be  Louis  Philippe  I.  Two  thousand  guests 
crowded  the  salons ;  the  people  filled  the  gardens,  where  rows  of 
lights  sprang  from  tree  to  tree,  and  from  arcade  to  arcade.  Dur- 
ing the  evening  a  presentiment  of  coming  events  filled  the  mind 
of  the  Comte  de  Salvandy,  a  former  minister  to  Naples;  and 
passing  before  the  host,  wiio  was  receiving  the  compliments  of 
his  guests  upon  the  brilliancy  of  the  occasion,  he  said,  "  You  are 
giving  us  quite  a  Neapolitan  fete,  prince :  we  are  dancing  upon  a 
volcano"  (nous  dansons  sur  un  volcari)  ;  alluding  to  the  habit  of 
the  peasantry,  who  thoughtlessly  dance  upon  the  slopes  of  Vesu- 
vius, which  may  at  any  moment  overwhelm  them.  In  little  more 
than  a  month  Charles  X.  had  taken  the  post-chaise,  and  Louis 
Philippe  was  hailed  as  the  "citizen  king." 

CHARLES  XII. 

[King  of  Sweden;  called  the  "Madman  of  the  North;"  born  at 
Stockholm,  June  27,  1(382;  succeeded  Charles  XI.,  1(397;  opposed  a 
league  of  the  Northern  powers;  took  Copenhagen;  raised  the  siege 
of  Narva  against  Peter  the  Great;  invaded  Poland  and  Saxony; 
marched  upon  Moscow,  but  was  defeated  at  Pultowa,  1759;  retreated 
to  Turkey,  and  on  his  return  through  Germany  was  obliged  to  sur- 
render Stralsund;  killed  at  the  siege  of  Frederickshall,  during  an 
invasion  of  Norway,  Dec.  11,  1718.] 


124  CHARLES  ALBERT. 

No  matter:   nothing  resembles   a  man  more  than   a 
king. 

"When  a  minister's  servant  apologized  for  addressing  him 
familiarly,  not  knowing  he  was*  the  king,  "  but  thinking  it  was 
only  a  man." 

Charles  had  several  horses  killed  under  him  at  the  battle  of 
Karva  in  1700,  where  he  defeated  Peter  the  Great.  As  he  was 
mounting  a  fresh  one,  he  exclaimed,  "  These  people  seem  dis- 
posed to  give  me  exercise."  "When  asked  what  he  thought  of 
Alexander,  whose  life  he  was  found  reading  when  a  child,  "That 
I  should  like  to  resemble  him,"  was  the  precocious  reply.  It 
was  suggested  that  the  Macedonian  lived  but  thirty-two  years: 
"  It  is  enough,"  maintained  Charles,  "  when  one  has  conquered 
the  world."  The  Swede  died  at  thirty-six.  The  anecdote  may 
have  suggested  to  Pope  the  conjunction  of  their  names  :  — 

"  Heroes  are  much  the  same,  the  point's  agreed, 
From  Macedonia's  madman  to  the  Swede." 

Essay  on  Man,  IV.  219. 

CHARLES  ALBERT. 

[Carlo  Alberto,  king  of  Sardinia;  born  1798;  ascended  the  throne, 
1831;  made  liberal  reforms  in  the  government;  granted  a  constitution, 
and  put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  movement  for  Italian  indepen- 
dence, 1818;  after  gaining  several  victories  over  the  Austrians,  was 
defeated  at  Novara,  March  23,  1849;  and  abdicated  in  favor  of  his  son 
Victor  Emmanuel;  died  July  of  the  same  year.] 

I  await  my  star  (J' attends  mon  astre). 

The  motto  of  his  house.  When  Victor  Emmanuel  opened 
the  first  Parliament  in  Rome  in  Xovember,  1871,  the  common 
people  sought  all  day  in  an  unclouded  sky  for  the  "  star  of 
Savoy,"  which  they  were  told  was  visible. 

The  proud  answer  of  Italian  patriotism,  "  Italy  will  finish  it 
alone"  (U Italia  fara  da  se),  given  to  French  republicans  in  1848, 
who  favored  the  intervention  of  their  country  to  assist  Italy 
against  Austria,  has  been  attributed  to  others  than  Charles 
Albert:  by  Reuchlin  ("History  of  Italy,"  II.  1,  55)  to  Pareto.  then 
minister  of  foreign  affairs ;  to  Cesare  Balbo,  a  writer  and  liberal 
statesman  of  that  time;  and  to  Gioberti,  an  even  more  distin- 


VISCOUNT  DE  CHATEAUBRIAND.  125 

guished  patriot.  Gregorovius  ("  Rome  in  the  Middle  Ages,"  VI. 
259)  dates  it  from  Cola  di  Rienzi ;  but  only  properly,  says  Biich- 
mann,  in  so  far  as  it  expresses  the  main  idea  of  Rienzi's  career. 
The  assistance  which  was  refused  in  1848-49  was  accepted,  with 
a  result  not  prejudicial  to  Italian  pride,  in  1859. 


VISCOUNT  DE  CHATEAUBRIAND. 

[A  distinguished  French  writer  and  statesman ;  born  at  St.  Malo, 
September,  17G8;  destined  to  the  Church,  but  preferred  the  army, 
which  he  entered,  1786;  sailed  for  the  United  States,  1791,  ostensibly 
to  discover  the  North-west  Passage;  but,  after  a  journey  from  Niagara 
to  Florida,  returned  to  France,  1792;  joined  the  emigrants,  and  lived 
in  poverty  in  England;  returned  1800,  and  published  "  Atala,"  a 
picture  of  aboriginal  American  life;  elected  to  the  Academy,  1811; 
ambassador  to  Berlin,  1820;  to  London,  1822*;  minister  for  foreign 
affairs,  1823;  ambassador  to  Rome,  1828;  died  after  a  long  retirement, 
July  4,  1848.] 

If  the  cocked-hat  and  surtout  of  Napoleon  were  placed 
on  a  stick  on  the  shores  of  Brest,  it  would  cause 
Europe  to  run  to  arms  from  one  end  to  the  other. 

Of  the  terror  which  the  name  of  Napoleon,  as  once  that  of 
Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  still  inspired  among  those  who  had 
crushed  him.  Chateaubriand,  however,  called  the  history  of 
France  under  Napoleon,  "slavery  less  the  shame  (I'esclavage 
moins  la  lionte}. 

"France  is  a  soldier'"  (La  France  est  un  soldaf).  A  thought 
which  was  suggested  to  Chateaubriand  by  the  history  of  France 
under  the  empire,  the  foundation  of  which  rested  upon  military 
glory. 

Talleyrand  said  of  Chateaubriand  in  his  old  age,  when  not 
even  the  vivacious  society  and  unremitting  attentions  of  Mme. 
Recamier  could  dispel  his  despondency,  "  He  thinks  himself 
deaf,  because  he  no  longer  hears  himself  talked  of." 

Chateaubriand  illustrated  the  inconstancy  of  his  political  life, 
which,  however,  manifested  a  great  repugnance  to  imperialism 
and  republicanism  alike,  by  saying,  "  I  am  a  Bourbonist  by  honor, 
a  royalist  by  reason  and  conviction,  and  a  republican  by  tastes 
and  character." 


126  LORD   CHATHAM. 


LORD   CHATHAM. 

[William  Pitt,  first  Earl  of  Chatham;  called,  until  raised  to  the 
peerage,  "The  Great  Commoner;"  born  in  Cornwall,  Nov.  15,  1708; 
member  for  Old  Sanim,  17.35;  paymaster  of  the  forces,  1740:  prime 
minister  for  rive  months,  1755;  formed  a  coalition  with  Newcastle, 
becoming  secretary  of  state,  and  directing  war  and  foreign  *aff  airs ; 
resigned  on  the  accession  of  George  III.;  privy  seal,  17(Jf>,  and  ac- 
cepted a  peerage;  resigned,  1768;  opposed  ihe  American  war;  died 
May  11,  1778.] 

Methinks   Felix   trembles!      He   shall  hear  from    me 
some  other  day. 

Asking,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  who  were  the  evil  advisers  of 
his  Majesty ;  and  fixing  his  eyes  on  Mansfield,  who  seemed  to 
quail  before  his  glance.  Campbell,  in  the  "  Life  of  Mansfield." 
quotes  it  "Festus;  "  which  led  the  Hon.  Edward  Everett  to  write 
him,  that  Lord  North  would  not  have  quailed,  but  would  have 
said,  "Judge  Felix,  if  you  please,  Lord  Chatham." 

Moreton,  Chief  Justice  of  Chester,  once  used  the  expression 
in  the  House  of  Commons:  "  King,  Lords,  and  Commons;  or." 
looking  at  Pitt,  "  as  the  right  honorable  member  would  call- 
them,  Commons,  Lords,  and  King."  Pitt  having  asked  that  the 
words  be  taken  down,  Moreton  explained  that  he  meant  nothing; 
whereupon  Pitt  gave  him  this  advice  :  "  Whenever  that  member 
mean*  nothing,  I  advise  him  to  say  nothing." 

The  Duke  of  Newcastle  gave  the  management  of  the  House  of 
Commons  in  1754  to  Sir  Thomas  Robinson,  a  dull  man;  which 
made  Pitt  exclaim,  "  Sir  Thomas  Robinson  to  lead  us!  The 
duke  might  as  well  send  his  jack-boot  to  lead  us  !  '  When  Pitt 
formed  the  coalition  with  Newcastle  in  1757,  the  patronage 
which  the  latter  dispensed  through  the  members  of  the  House 
made  him  seem  so  much  like  a  proprietor  of  votes,  that  his 
colleague  said,  "  The  Duke  of  Newcastle  lent  me  his  majority 
to  carry  on  the  government."  In  fact,  the  duke  looked  upon  the 
objects  of  his  patronage  very  much  as  upon  his  tenants;  whom 
he  evicted  when  they  did  not  support  his  candidates,  saying, 
"May  I  not  do  what  I  like  with  my  own?  " 

During  the  Seven  Years'  War,  Pitt  brought  about  an  alliance 
between  England  and  Prussia,  by  which  France  was  overpow- 
ered. The  scene  of  action  being,  therefore,  transferred  from 


LORD   CHATHAM.  127 


America  to  Europe,  Pitt  remarked  at  the  close  of  the  struggle, 
"I  conquered  America  in  Germany."  It  was  during  this  war, 
immediately  after  the  capture  of  Quebec,  that  Pitt  declared,  "  I 
will  own  I  have  a  zeal  to  serve  my  country  beyond  what  the 
weakness  of  my  frail  body  admits  of ; "  and  Lord  Chesterfield 
said  of  the  large  forces  and  sums  of  money  voted  for  the  defence 
of  America  against  the  French,  "It  is  Pitt's  doing,  and  it  is 
marvellous  in  our  eyes." 

G-entle  Shepherd,  tell  me  where. 

The  line  of  a  song  which  Pitt  repeated,  when  Grenville,  in  a 
debate  on  the  financial  statement  of  1762,  asked  where  they 
would  have  a  tax  laid  :  "  Let  them  tell  me  where.  I  say,  sir,  let 
them  tell  me  where.  I  repeat  it,  sir :  I  am  entitled  to  say  to 
them,  tell  me  where."  "  It  was  long,"  sa}rs  Macaulay,  "  before 
Grenville  lost  the  nickname  of  '  Gentle  Shepherd,'  which  Pitt 
fixed  upon  him."  —  Essay  on  Chatham. 

Chatham  first  made  the  suggestion  of  "  a  power  behind  the 
throne,"  in  a  speech,  March  2,  1770:  "A  long  train  of  circum- 
stances has  at  length  unwillingly  convinced  me  that  there  is 
something  behind  the  throne  greater  than  the  king  himself." 

The  case  of  John  Wilkes,  in  1770,  brought  out  one  or  two 
famous  observations  from  Chatham :  "  Unlimited  power,"  he 
said,  "  corrupts  the  possessor ;  and  this  I  know,  that,  where  law 
ends,  there  tyranny  begins."  In  a  debate  upon  Lord  March- 
mont's  motion,  made  at  midnight,  May  1,  1770,  that  any  inter- 
ference of  the  lords,  respecting  the  Middlesex  election,  would 
be  unconstitutional,  Lord  Chatham  exclaimed,  "If  the  consti- 
tution must  be  wounded,  let  it  not  receive  its  mortal  stab  at  this 
dark  and  midnight  hour."  He  had  already  said,  when  a  member 
of  the  Lower  House,  "I  will  not  go  to  court  if  I  may  not  bring 
the  constitution  with  me." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Shelburne,  Sept.  29,  1770,  he  spoke 
of  "  reparation  for  our  rights  at  home,  and  security  against  the 
like  future  violations." 

Confidence  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth. 

When  asked  for  confidence  in  the  ministry  in  1776,  he  said 
their  characters  were  fair  enough,  and  such  persons  he  was 


128  LORD   CHATHAM. 


always  glad  to  see  in  the  public  service ;  but,  giving  a  smile 
which  was  hardly  respectful,  "  Confide  in  you  ?  Oh,  no !  you 
must  pardon  me,  gentlemen.  Youth  is  the  season  of  credulity: 
confidence  is  a  plant  of  slow  growth  in  an  aged  bosom!"  "True 
friendship,"  says  Washington,  "is  a  plant  of  slow  growth." 
—  Social  Maxims.  "  I  see  before  me,"  said  Disraeli,  in  a  speech 
at  the  Mansion  House,  Nov.  9,  1867,  "  the  statue  of  a  celebrated 
minister,  who  said  that  confidence  was  a  plant  of  slow  growth. 
But  I  believe,  however  gradual  may  be  the  growth  of  confidence, 
that  of  credit  requires  still  more  time  to  arrive  at  maturity." 

Much  of  Chatham's  finest  oratory  was  employed  against  the 
treatment  of  the  American  colonies  by  the  ministry  ;  but,  as 
Brougham  says,  our  idea  of  it  rests  upon  a  few  scattered  frag- 
ments. In  opposing  the  Stamp  Act,  he  said,  "  America,  if  she 
fall,  will  fall  like  the  strong  man :  she  will  embrace  the  pillars 
of  the  state,  and  pull  down  the  constitution  along  with  her." 

In  allusion  to  a  quotation  of  precedents,  he  protested:  "I  come 
not  here  armed  at  all  points  with  law-cases  and  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, with  the  statute-books  doubled  down  in  dog's-ears,  to 
defend  the  cause  of  liberty." 

In  1777  he  made  the  ringing  declaration,  while  speaking  of 
the  employment  of  German  mercenaries :  "  If  I  were  an  Ameri- 
can, as  I  am  an  Englishman,  while  a  foreign  troop  was  landed  in 
my  country,  I  never  would  lay  down  my  arms,  —  never  !  never  ! 
never !  " 

Equally  famous  is  the  figure  he  employed  when  opposing 
the  use  of  Indians  in  the  war,  1777 :  "  I  invoke  the  genius  of 
the  Constitution.  From  the  tapestry  that  adorns  these  walls  the 
immortal  ancestor  of  this  noble  lord  frowns  with  indignation  at 
the  disgrace  of  his  country." 

O  t/ 

In  the  same  year  he  contemptuously  answered  the  ministerial 
boast  of  driving  the  Americans  before  the  British  army :  "  I 
might  as  well  think  of  driving  them  before  me  with  this 
crutch ! " 

Of  the  impulse  to  speak,  which  overcame  his  self-command, 
he  once  said  to  Lord  Shelburne,  "  I  must  sit  clown ;  for  when  I 
am  up,  every  thing  that  is  in  my  mind  comes  out." 

Other  sayings  of  Chatham's  are  :  "  Politeness  is  benevolence  in 
trifles. "  "  '  Butler's  Analogy '  raises  more  doubts  than  it  solves. ' ' 


129 


Burke,  in  a  speech  on  the  Repeal  of  the  Corporation  and  Test 
Acts,  March  2,  1790,  quoted  a  remark  of  Chatham's  :  "  We  have 
a  Calvinistic  creed,  a  Popish  liturgy,  and  an  Arminian  clergy." 


ANDRE  CHENIER. 

[A  French  poet;  born  in  Constantinople,  October,  17G2;  secretary 
of  legation  to  England,  1787;  committed  to  prison  as  a  Girondist, 
after  pursuing  a  moderate  course  in  the  Revolution;  and  executed, 
July,  1794,  two  days  before  the  fall  of  Robespierre.] 

I  have  done  nothing  for  posterity ;  nevertheless  [striking 
his  forehead],  there  was  something  there  !  ( Je  riai  rienfait 
pour  la posterite  ;  pourtant f  avais  quelque  chose  la!) 

Fournier  hesitates  at  setting  aside  the  touching  story  of 
Chenier  and  his  friend  Roucher  reciting  in  the  fatal  cart  the 
first  scene  of  "Andromaque,"  between  Orestes  and  Pylades;  and 
the  despairing  exclamation  of  the  author  of  the  "Jeune  Cap- 
tive," that  he  had  done  nothing  for  posterity.  "  I  confess  that  I 
doubt,"  says  the  author  of  "L'Esprit  dans  I'Histoire,"  "while* 
I  regret  my  doubts."  He  adds,  that  the  narrative  of  a  romaneier,. 
Hyacinthe  de  Latouche,  is  drawn  from  contemporaneous  accomit» 
of  suspicious  authenticity,  and  names  Alfred  de  Vigny  as,  con- 
tributing, in  his  "  Stello,"  to  fasten  the  romance  upon  history- 
Professor  Caro,  however,  dismisses  the  scene  as  "  a  pure  inven- 
tion," and  traces  the  famous  mot  of  the  poet  to  the  notes-  of  at 
poem  by  Loizerolles,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  who.  shared 
Chenier's  prison. — Etudes  et  Portraits,  chap.  xi.  This-  same 
Loizerolles  attributes  to  Chenier  what  history  has  assignee!  to  his. 
companion  in  prison,  Trudaine,  who  was  said  to  have  drawn  on. 
the  wall  of  his  cell  a  tree,  from  which  a  branch  had  fallen,,  and , 
above  it  the  words,  either  in  Latin,  "  Fructus  matura  tulissem"  as. 
asserted  by  the  Marquis  de  Saint- Aulaire,  in  the  "Lettres  inedites  . 
de  Mine,  du  Deffand,"  I.  103,  note;  or  in  French,  "  J'awais p&rte 
des  fruits  "  (I  should  have  borne  some  fruit.) 

If,  however,  doubt  is  to  be  thrown  on  all  that  Loizerolles  and 
Latouche  have  written  on  this  subject,  the  following  exclamation 
of  Chenier  to  Roucher  must  share  the  same  fate :  "It  is  so  beau- 
tiful to  die  young  !  "  (II  est  si  beau  de  mourir  jeune  /). 


130  LORD   CHESTERFIELD. 


LOUD   CHESTERFIELD. 

[Philip  Dormer  Stanhope,  fourth  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  courtier, 
orator,  and  wit,  called  by  Sainte-Beuve  "  the  La  Rochefoucauld  of 
England;  "  born  in  London,  September,  1694;  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge; entered  Parliament,  1715,  where  his  speeches  were  greatly 
admired;  passed  to  the  House  of  Lords,  1726;  ambassador  to  Holland, 
1728;  Lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  1745 •,  principal  secretary  of  state 
for  two  years  from  1746;  was  intimate  with  Pope,  Swift,  and  the  other 
wits  of  the  day;  his  "Letters  to  His  Son"  were  published  in  1774, 
the  year  after  his  death.] 


Will  your  majesty  command  the  insertion  of  the  usual 
formula:  "To  our  trusty  and  well-beloved  cousin"? 

The  question  with  which  Chesterfield  received  the  angry 
exclamation  of  George  II.,  when  the  name  of  a  person  he  dis- 
liked was  suggested  for  an  appointment :  "  I  would  rather  have 
the  Devil !  "  Laughing  at  the  turn  his  minister  gave  to  it,  the 
king  replied,  "  My  lord,  do  as  you  please." 

When  asked  how  he  got  through  so  much  work,  he  replied, 
"Because  I  never  put  off  until  to-morrow  what  I  can  do  to-day." 
Dewitt,  pensionary  of  Holland,  answered  the  same  question  : 
"  Nothing  is  more  easy :  never  do  but  one  thing  at  a  time,  and 
never  put  off  until  to-morrow  what  can  be  done  to-day." 

Being  asked,  when  lord  lieutenant,  whom  he  thought  the 
greatest  man  in  Ireland,  he  replied,  "  The  last  man  who  arrived 
from  England,  be  he  who  he  might." 

When  walking  in  the  street  one  day,  Chesterfield  was  pushed 
off  the  flags  by  an  impudent  fellow,  who  said  to  him,  "  I  never 
give  the  wall  to  a  scoundrel."  The  great  master  of  courtesy 
immediately  took  off  his  hat,  and,  making  him  a  low  bow, 
replied,  "  Sir,  I  always  do."  This  has  also  been  told  of  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke,  in  an  encounter  with  the  editor  of  "  The 
Richmond  Whig." 

Next  to  doing  things  that  deserve  to  be  written,  there 
is  nothing  that  gets  a  man  more  credit,  or  gives 
him  more  pleasure,  than  to  write  things  that  de- 
serve to  be  read. 

Letters  to  his  Son,  1739. 


LORD   CHESTERFIELD.  131 

If  you  can  engage  people's  pride,  love,  pity,  ambition, 
(or  whatever  is  their  prevailing  passion),  on  your 
side,  you  need  not  fear  what  their  reason  can  do 
against  you. 

Letters  to  his  Son,  Feb.  8,  1746. 

"Every  man,"  says  Seneca,  "has  his  weak  side." 

"  The  ruling  passion,  be  it  what  it  will, 
The  ruling  passion  conquers  reason  still." 

POPE:  Moral  Essays,  III.  153. 

Whatever  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well. 
Ibid.,  March  10,  1746. 

The  knowledge  of  the  world  is  only  to  be  acquired  in 
the  world,  and  not  in  the  closet. 

Ibid.,  Oct.  4,  1746. 

You  must  look  into  people,  as  well  as  at  them. 
Ibid. 

In  this  world  the  understanding  is  the  voiture  which 
must  carry  you  through. 

Ibid.,  Oct.  9,  1746. 

Another  form  of  Bacon's  "Knowledge  is  power." 

There  is  nothing  that  people  bear  more  impatiently, 
or  forgive  less,  than  contempt;  and  an  injury  is 
much  sooner  forgotten  than  an  insult. 

Ibid. 

I  recommend  you  to  take  care  of  the  minutes,  for  the 
hours  will  take  care  of  themselves. 

Ibid. 

He  quotes  William  Lowndes,  secretary  of  the  treasury  under 
William  and  Mary,  Anne,  and  George  I.,  as  saying,  "Take  care 
of  the  pence,  and  the  pounds  will  take  care  of  themselves." 

Polished  brass  will  pass  upon  more  people  than  rough 
gold. 

Ibid.,  ftlarch  6,  1747. 


132  LORD   CHESTERFIELD. 

Every  man  seeks  for  truth :  God  only  knows  who  has 
found  it. 

Letters  to  his  Son,  July  30,  1747. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  all  over  the  world,  but  its 
operations  are  so  varied  by  education  and  habit  that 
one  must  see  it  in  all  its  dresses  in  order  to  be 
entirely  acquainted  with  it. 

Ibid.,  Oct.  2,  1747. 

Again  he  writes,  Feb.  7,  1749 :  "  Modes  and  customs  vary 
often,  but  human  nature  is  always  the  same." 

Merit  and  good-breeding  will  make  their  way  every- 
where. 

Ibid.,  Oct.  9,  1747. 

Endeavor  as  much  as  you  can  to  keep  company  with 
people  above  you. 

Ibid. 

Genealogies  are  no  trifles  in  Germany,  where  they 
care  more  for  two  and  thirty  quarters  than  for  two 
and  thirty  cardinal  virtues. 

Ibid.,  Nov.  6,  1747. 

It  [the  value  of  time]  is  in  everybody's  mouth,  but  in 
few  people's  practice; 

Ibid.,  Dec.  11,  1747. 

If  we  do  not  plant  it  [knowledge]  when  young,  it  will 
give  us  no  shade  when  we  are  old. 

Ibid. 

Men,  as  well  as  women,  are  much  oftener  led  by  their 
hearts  than  by  their  understandings. 

Ibid.,  Jan.  21,  1748. 

He  also  wrote,  May  15,  1749  :  "  Xine  times  in  ten,  the  heart 
governs  the  understanding."  Mazarin  used  to  say,  "  The  heart 
is  everything"  (Quand  on  a  le  cceur,  on  a  tout).  It  was  the 
secret  of  his  power  over  Anne  of  Austria. 


LORD  CHESTERFIELD.  133 

-      ._  .  .  -   -  -  -    -       -          .--  ~_r-     -    -  -     . 

Honest  error  is  to  be  pitied,  not  ridiculed. 
Letters  to  his  Son,  Feb.  16,  1748. 

Never  seem  wiser,  nor  more  learned,  than  the  people 
you  are  with. 

Ibid.,  Feb.  22,  1748. 

Cottages  have  them  [falsehood  and  dissimulation]  as 
well  as  courts,  only  with  worse  manners. 

Ibid.,  April  15,  1748. 

Women  are  to  be  talked  to  as  below  men,  and  above 
children. 

Ibid.,  Sept.  20,  1748. 

Venus  will  not  charm  so  much  without  her  attendant 
Graces,  as  they  will  without  her. 

Ibid.,  Nov.  18,  1748. 

He   [the   Duke    of    Marlborough]    could  refuse    more 
gracefully  than  other  people  could  grant. 

Ibid. 

The  following  anecdote  is  related  of  the  eccentric  Earl  of 
Peterborough,  and  illustrates  the  popular  idea  of  the  great  duke's 
avarice  and  parsimony.  The  earl  was  one  day  returning  from 
the  House  of  Lords,  and  was  vigorously  hooted  by  a  mob,  which 
mistook  him  for  Marlborough,  then  at  the  height  of  his  unpopu- 
larity. "  I  will  convince  you  that  I  am  not  the  duke,"  he  said : 
"  in  the  first  place,  I  have  but  five  guineas  in  my  pocket ;  and  in 
the  second  place,  here  they  are,  much  to  your  service,"  throwing 
them  to  the  mob.  The  earl  was  a  distinguished  soldier,  but  was 
of  opinion  that  "a  general  is  only  a  hangman-in-chief." 

Abhor  a  knave  and  pity  a  fool  in  your  heart,  but  let 
neither  of  them  unnecessarily  see  that  you  do  so. 

Ibid.,  Dec.  20,  1748. 

Be  early  what,  if  you  are  not,  you  will,  when  it  is  too 
late,  wish  you  had  been. 

Ibid.,  Feb.  7,  1749. 


134  LORD   CHESTERFIELD. 

That  silly,  sanguine  notion,  which  is  firmly  entertained 
here,  that  one  Englishman  can  beat  three  French- 
men, encourages,  and  has  sometimes  enabled,  one 
Englishman,  in  reality,  to  beat  two. 

Letters  to  his  Son. 

Henry  V.  said  of  his  army,  wasted  by  disease,  that,  when  they 
were  in  health,  — 

"  I  thought  upon  one  pair  of  English  legs 
Did  march  three  Frenchmen." 

Henry  7.,  III.  6. 

Fools  never  perceive  where  they  are  ill-timed  or  ill- 
placed. 

Ibid.,  July  20, 1749. 

Idleness  is  only  the  refuge  of  weak  minds,  and  the 
holiday  of  fools. 

Ibid. 

No  man  takes  pleasures  truly,  who  does  not  earn  them 
by  previous  business;  and  few  people  do  business 
well,  who  do  nothing  else. 

Ibid.,  Aug.  7,  1749. 

Whoever  is  in  a  hurry  shows  that  the  thing  he  is 
about  is  too  big  for  him. 

Ibid.,  Aug.  10,  1749. 

The  most  familiar  and  intimate  habitudes,  connec- 
tions, friendships,  require  a  degree  of  good-breeding 
both  to  preserve  and  cement  them. 

Ibid.,  Xov.  3,  1749. 

People  in  general  will  much  better  bear  being  told  of 
their  vices  or  crimes  than  of  then:  little  failings  or 
weaknesses. 

Ibid.,  Xov.  26,  1749. 

There  is  a  certain  dignity  to  be  kept  up  in  pleasures, 
as  well  as  in  business. 

Ibid.,  Feb.  5,  1750. 


LORD   CHESTERFIELD.  135 

Despatch  is  the  soul  of  business. 
Letters  to  his  Son. 

To  be  pleased,  one  must  please.  What  pleases  you  in 
others  will  in  general  please  them  in  you. 

Ibid.,  Feb.  9,  1750. 

A  man's  own  good  -  breeding  is  his  best  security 
against  other  people's  ill  manners. 

Ibid. 

Paris  is  the  place  in  the  world,  where,  if  you  please, 
you  may  best  unite  the  utile  with  the  dulce. 

Ibid.,  April  30,  1750.  An  allusion  to  Horace's  advice  to  min- 
gle the  useful  with  the  agreeable :  — 

"  Omne  tulit  punctuin  qui  miscuit  utile  dulci." 

De  Arte  Poetica,  343. 

Modesty  is  the  only  sure  bait  when  you  angle  for 
praise. 

Ibid.,  May  8,  1750. 

Knowledge  may  give  weight,  but  accomplishments 
only  give  lustre  ;  and  many  more  people  see  than 
weigh. 

Ibid. 

Most  arts  require  long  study  and  application;  but  the 
most  useful  of  all,  that  of  pleasing,  only  the  desire. 

Ibid. 

For  the  parties  affected  by  it  (scandal)  always  look 
upon  the  receiver  to  be  almost  as  bad  as  the  thief. 

Ibid.,  Jan.  15,  1753. 

Dean  Swift  made  a  witty  use  of  this  proverb,  when  he  said, 
of  William  the  Third's  motto  applied  to  his  succession,  "  recipit 
non  rapnit"  (he  received,  he  did  not  seize,  the  crown  of  England), 
"  The  partaker  is  as  bad  as  the  thief." 


136  LORD   CHESTERFIELD. 

Young  people  are  very  apt  to  overrate  both  men  and 
things,  from  not  being  enough  acquainted  with 
them. 

Letters  to  Ms  Son,  Feb.  17,  1751 

The  vulgar  only  laugh,  but  never  smile;  whereas 
well-bred  people  often  smile,  but  seldom  laugh. 

Ibid. 

Individuals  sometimes  forgive,  but  bodies  and  socie- 
ties never  do. 

lUd. 

Do  not  tell  every  thing,  but  never  lie. 
Ibid. 

You  may  always  observe  that  the  greatest  fools  are 
the  greatest  liars.  For  my  part,  I  judge  of  every 
man's  truth  by  his  degree  of  understanding. 

Ibid. 

After  their  friendship,  there  is  nothing  so  dangerous 
as  to  have  them  for  enemies. 

Ibid.     (Of  knaves  and  fools.) 

Tyrawley  and  I  have  been  dead  these  two  years,  but 
we  don't  choose  to  have  it  known. 

Of  Lord  Tyrawley  and  himself,  when  both  were  very  old  and 
infirm.  —  BOSWELL'S  Johnson,  1772. 

His  last  words,  his  good-breeding  quitting  him  only  with  life, 
were,  "  Give  Dayrolles  a  chair." 

Dr.  Johnson  addressed  to  Lord  Chesterfield  the  plan  of  the 
Dictionary;  but  no  attention  was  paid  to  it  until  within  a  short 
time  of  publication,  when  the  earl,  flattered  with  the  expectation 
that  it  would  be  dedicated  to  him,  wrote  two  papers  in  "The 
World"  in  commendation  of  it.  The  device  failed  of  effect; 
for  Johnson  wrote  him  a  letter,  Feb.  7,  1775,  "expressed,"  as  he 
said,  "  in  civil  terms,  but  such  as  might  show  him  that  I  did 
not  mind  what  he  said  or  wrote,  and  that  I  had  done  with  him.  ' 


CHILO.  137 

In  it  occurred  the  celebrated  sentence :  "  Seven  years,  my  lord, 
have  now  passed,  since  I  waited  in  your  outward  rooms,  or  was 
repulsed  from  your  door."  Johnson  said  in  it  that  he  did  not 
expect  the  treatment  he  had  received,  "  for  I  never  had  a  patron 
before.  The  shepherd  in  Virgil  grows  at  last  acquainted  with 
Love,  and  found  him  a  native  of  the  rocks."  lie  afterwards 
exchanged  the  word  "  garret  "  for  "  patron,"  in  his  translation  of 
Juvenal's  Tenth  Satire,  so  that  it  stands :  — 

"  Yet  think  what  ills  the  scholar's  life  assail, — 
Toil,  envy,  want,  the  patron,  and  the  jail." 

Dante  amplifies  the  thought  of  dependence  upon  the  patron- 
age of  the  great :  — 

"  And  thou  shalt  prove  how  salt  a  savor  hath 
The  bread  of  others,  and  how  hard  a  path 
To  climb  and  to  descend  the  stranger's  stairs!  " 

Paradiso,  XVII.  58. 

Johnson's  opinion  of  Lord  Chesterfield  was  subsequently  ex- 
pressed with  great  freedom.  "This  man,"  he  said,  "I  thought 
had  been  a  lord  among  wits,  but  I  find  he  is  only  a  wit  among 
lords."  Of  Chesterfield's  "Letters  to  his  Son,"  Johnson  de- 
clared that  "they  teach  the  morals  of  a  harlot,  and  the  manners 
of  a  dancing-master."  But  he  subsequently  thought  that  they 
might  be  made  "  a  very  pretty  book.  Take  out  the  immorality, 
and  it  should  be  put  into  the  hands  of  every  young  gentleman." 
On  another  occasion,  when  the  "Letters'"  were  mentioned  at 
dinner  in  a  gentleman's  house,  Johnson  asserted  that  "  every  man 
of  any  education  would  rather  be  called  a  rascal  than  accused  of 
deficiency  in  the  graces."  —  BOSWELL  :  1776. 

CHILO. 

[One  of  the  Seven  "Wise  Men  of  Greece;  became  an  ephor  of 
Sparta,  B.C.  555;  and  died  of  joy  at  the  victory  of  his  sou  at  the 
Olympic  Games.] 

Know  thyself. 

The  two  inscriptions  upon  the  Temple  of  Apollo  at  Delphi, 
"Know  thyself  "  (jvudi.  ffawrov),  and  "Nothing  to  excess,"  which 
appears  most  commonly  in  the  Latin  form  (Ne  quid  nimis),  em- 


138  RUFUS  CHOATE. 


ployed  by  Terence  ("Andria,"  I.  1),  are  referred,  the  first  to 
Chilo  and  Thales,  the  second  to  Chilo  and  Solon.  La  Fontaine 
transferred  the  latter  maxim  quite  literally  to  the  French  lan- 
guage when  he  wrote :  — 

"  Rien  de  trop  est  un  point." 

Book  IX.,  Fable  11. 

Thales,  when  asked  what  were  the  hardest  and  easiest  things 
in  the  world,  replied,  "  The  hardest,  to  know  thyself ;  the  easi- 
est, to  blame  another's  actions."  Goethe  objected  to  the  first 
maxim,  that  it  promoted  excessive  introspection.  "  Hypochon- 
dria," he  said,  "is  nothing  but  sinking  into  the  subjective" 
(Hypochondrisch  sein  heisst  nichts  anders  als  im  Subjekt  versinken). 
—  Table  Talk,  Riemer,  II.  1814.  But  he  declares  again,  "Man 
only  knows  himself  in  so  far  as  he  knows  the  world ;  "  and, 
"  The  highest  point  to  which  man  can  attain  is  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  sensations  and  thoughts,  the  knowledge  of  him- 
self." Montaigne  declared  that  he  studied  nothing  but  to  know 
himself ;  and  Pope  versifies  the  philosophy  of  ages  :  — 

"  Know  then  thyself,  presume  not  God  to  scan: 
The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." 

Essay  on  Man,  II.  1. 

When  asked  by  JEsop  how  Zeus  employed  himself,  Chilo  re- 
plied, "  In  humbling  those  that  exalt  themselves,  and  exalting 
them  that  abase  themselves." 

"  Gold,"  he  said,  "is  tried  with  the  touchstone,  and  men  with 
gold." 

Chilo  first  advised  that  "  nothing  but  good  be  spoken  of  the 
dead ; "  which  comes  to  us  through  the  Latin  translation  (de  mor- 
tuis  nil  nisi  bonuiri)  of  a  maxim  in  the  "Life  of  Chilo,"  by  Dio- 
genes Laertius,  only  slightly  modified  by  Thucydides,  II.  45 : 
"Everyone  ought  to  praise  the  dead."  Cicero  said,  "A  good 
name  is  the  possession  of  the  dead  "  (Bona  fama  possess io  defunc- 
torum). 

RUFUS  CHOATE. 

[One  of  the  most  eminent  of  American  advocates;  born  in  Ips- 
wich, Mass.,  Oct.  1,  1799;  member  of  Congress,  and  Senator  of  the 
United  States,  1811-45;  died  at  Halifax,  N.S.,  July  13,  1858.] 


RUFUS  CHOATE.  139 


There  was  a  state  without  king  or  nobles;  there  was 
a  church  without  a  bishop ;  there  was  a  people  gov- 
erned by  grave  magistrates  which  it  had  selected, 
and  equal  laws  which  it  had  framed. 

Speech  in  New  York  at  the  dinner  of  the  New-England  So- 
ciety, Dec.  22,  1843. 

Junius  had  already  written :  "  The  Americans  equally  detest 
the  pageantry  of  a  king,  and  the  superstitious  hypocrisy  of  a 
bishop."  —  Letter  35. 

A  remark  in  a  letter  to  the  Maine  Whig  Convention,  Aug.  9, 
1856,  caused  much  discussion  and  protest:  speaking  of  a  govern- 
ment based  on  Northern,  or  anti-slavery  ideas,  he  called  "  its 
constitution,  the  glittering  and  sounding  generalities  of  natural 
right  which  make  up  the  Declaration  of  Independence."  Emer- 
son said  in  reply,  that  these  "generalities"  were  " blazing  veri- 
ties." 

In  a  letter  to  the  Massachusetts  Whig  State  Convention  of 
1855,  he  wrote  :  "  We  join  ourselves  to  no  party  that  does  not 
carry  the  flag,  and  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the  Union." 

Then  you  are  a  dipped,  but  I  hope  not  a  wick-ed 
candle. 

When  a  witness  described  himself  as  "a  candle  of  the  Lord, — 
a  Baptist  minister." 

He  once  said  to  one  of  his  daughters  at  the  opera,  "  Interpret 
to  me  this  libretto,  lest  I  dilate  with  the  wrong  emotion." 

When  a  friend  asked  him  of  what  he  supposed  a  certain 
lawyer  whom  they  had  just  met  was  thinking,  Choate  is  said  to 
have  replied,  "  He  is  wondering  whether  he  made  God,  or  God 
made  him."  Another  attorney  he  called  "a  bull-dog  with  con- 
fused ideas."  Of  a  distinguished  chief -justice  of  Massachusetts, 
he  remarked,  that  the  bar  regarded  him  as  the  East- Indians  did 
their  wooden  god  :  "  They  know  that  he  is  ugly,  but  they  feel  that 
he  is  great."  When  told  that  the  next  edition  of  Worcester's 
Dictionary  would  contain  twenty-five  hundred  new  words,  the 
same  chief-justice  exclaimed,  "  For  Heaven's  sake,  don't  let 
Choate  get  hold  of  it !  "  alluding  to  the  extraordinary  amplitude 
of  the  great  advocate's  style. 


140  QUEEN  CHRISTINA. 

QUEEN  CHRISTINA. 

[Daughter  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  of  Sweden;  born  Dec.  8,  1626; 
received  a  careful  and  masculine  education;  proclaimed  queen,  1632, 
with  a  regency  under  Oxenstiern;  assumed  the  direction  of  affairs, 
1644;  abdicated  after  the  exhibition  of  much  eccentricity,  1624;  ab- 
jured the  Protestant  religion,  and  became  a  resident  of  Rome,  where 
she  promoted  art;  died  1689.] 

I  might  bring  forth  a  Nero  as  easily  as  an  Augustus 

(Ilpourra.it  aussifacilement  naitre  de  moi  un  Neron  qutun  Auguste). 

When  urged  by  her  subjects  to  marry.  Thinking  that  one  of 
her  suitors  was  attracted  by  her  crown  rather  than  by  herself, 
she  derisively  remarked,  "  A  crown  is  indeed  a  pretty  girl ! " 
( Une  couronne  est  une  jolie  file  /)  Her  purpose  to  remain  un- 
married was  declared  on  one  of  her  numerous  medals  struck  at 
Rome :  "I  was  born,  have  lived,  and  will  die  free"  (Libero  io 
nacqui,  e  vissi,  e  morrb  sciolto}. 

Tell  the  Holy  Father  that  I  am  not  the  less  the  daugh- 
ter of  the  great  Gustavus ! 

When  her  request  that  two  friends  be  allowed  to  visit  the 
Castle  of  St.  Angelo  was  refused. 

A  painter  suggested  that  she  hold  a  fan  in  her  hand  while  her 
portrait  was  being  painted :  "  A  lion  is  fitter  for  the  queen  of 
Sweden/'  was  her  reply. 

The  queen  was  admiring  a  statue  of  Truth,  which  she  was  told 
was  a  virtue  all  princes  could  not  tolerate ;  "  I  can  believe  it," 
she  said:  "all  truths  are  not  made  of  marble"  (Je  le  crois  bien, 
toutes  les  verites  ne  sont  pas  de  marbre  ). 

She  thanked  the  gentlemen  who  arranged  a  comedy  to  be 
played  at  Innspruck,  on  the  day  when  she  had  been  admitted 
into  the  Catholic  Church  there  :  "  It  is  just  that  you  should  give 
me  a  comedy  after  I  have  given  you  a  farce." 

He  has  cut  off  his  left  arm  with  his  right  (II  s'est  coupe 
le  bras  gauche  avec  le  bras  droit). 

Of  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by  Louis  XIV.,  that 
he  had  exterminated  heresy  at  the  expense  of  industrious  sub- 
jects, who  found  a  home  elsewhere.  This  mot,  Fournier  says,  can 


MARCUS   TULLIUS  CICERO. 


be  referred  to  a  time  as  remote  as  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Val- 
entinian,  of  whom  it  was  said  after  his  treacherous  murder  of 
yEtius,  the  general  who  commanded  his  forces  at  the  defeat 
of  Attila,  near  Chalons  in  Gaul,  A.D.  451. 

* 

I  love  men,  not  because   they  are  men,  but  because 
they  are  not  women. 

A  similar  remark  is  attributed  to  another  masculine  character, 
Mme.  de  Stael  :  "  I  am  glad  I  am  not  a  man,  as  I  should  be 
obliged  to  marry  a  woman."  When  the  court  ladies  embraced 
Queen  Christina  on  her  arrival  at  Fontainebleau  in  a  travelling 
suit  which  disguised  her  sex,  she  exclaimed,  "  I  believe  that  they 
take  me  for  a  man." 

Of  Mme.  de  la  Suze,  who  became  a  Catholic,  because  her 
husband,  from  whom  she  had  separated,  was  a  Huguenot, 
Queen  Christina  remarked,  "  She  has  separated  herself  from  her 
husband  that  she  may  see  him  neither  in  this  world  nor  in  the 
next." 

MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO. 

[Born  at  Arpinum,  Jan.  3,  106  B.C.;  began  his  career  as  an  advo- 
cate at  the  age  of  twenty-five;  finished  his  education  at  Athens; 
elected  consul,  64;  crushed  the  conspiracy  of  Catiline;  exiled  by  the 
hostility  of  Clodius,  59;  returned,  57;  joined  Pompey  against  Cresar, 
but  submitted  to  the  latter,  and  produced  in  retirement  his  works 
on  philosophy  and  rhetoric;  applauded  the  assassination  of  Cresar; 
denounced  Antony,  by  whose  soldiers  he  was  killed,  after  being 
proscribed  by  the  Triumvirate,  Dec.  7,  43  B.C.] 

Civis  Romanus  sum. 

In  his  sixth  oration  against  Yerres,  Cicero  described  the  out- 
rages upon  the  person  committed  by  the  cruel  and  rapacious 
governor  of  Sicily,  and  dwelt  particularly  upon  the  case  of 
Publius  Gavins,  who  was  beaten  with  rods  in  the  forum  of 
Messina  :  "  while  in  the  mean  time  no  groan  was  heard,  no  cry 
amid  all  his  pain  and  between  the  sound  of  the  blows,  except 
the  words,  '  I  am  a  Roman  citizen  !  '  Lord  Palmerston  made  a 
celebrated  application  of  this  phrase  in  a  debate  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  June  25,  1850,  on  d>  vote  of  confidence  in  Lord  John 


142  MARCUS   TULLIUS   CICERO. 

Russell's  administration,  especially  in  reference  to  Greece.  At 
the  close  of  a  five-hours'  speech  the  foreign  secretary,  whose 
conduct  was  particularly  under  discussion,  defended  the  protec- 
tion given  to  British  subjects  abroad,  and  challenged  the  verdict 
of  the  House  on  the  question  "  whether,  as  the  Roman  in  days  of 
old  held  himself  free  from  indignity  when  he  could  s&y.Civis 
Romanus  sum,  so  also  a  British  subject,  in  whatever  land  he  may 
be,  shall  feel  confident  that  the  watchful  eye  and  strong  arm  of 
England  will  protect  him  against  injustice  and  wrong." 

How  long,  I  pray  you,  Catiline,  will  you   abuse   our 
patience  ? 

The  opening  of  the  first  oration  against  Catiline,  Nov.  8,  64 
B.C.,  in  the  Senate,  which  Catiline  entered  after  full  proof  of 
his  treason  was  in  Cicero's  hands.  The  Latin  form  is  as  famil- 
iar as  the  English  :  "  Quousque  tandem  abutere,  Catiiina,  patientia 
nostra  1  Another  shorter  expression,  referring  to  the  corruption 
of  the  age  in  which  so  extensive  a  conspiracy  could  be  matured, 
"  0  tempora,  O  mores! "  is  equally  well  known.  Hardly  Jess  so  is 
the  beginning  of  the  second  oration  against  Catiline,  where  the 
orator  indicates  by  different  but  nearly  synonymous  words  the 
manner  of  the  conspirator's  escape  from  Rome  :  "  Abtit,  excessit, 
evasit,  erupit"  (He  is  gone,  he  has  retreated,  he  has  escaped, 
he  has  broken  forth). 

Let  arms  yield  to  the  toga. 

A  part  of  the  line  "  Cedant  arrna  (ogee,  concedat  laurea  lingua*" 
which  Cicero  introduced,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  in  the 
oration  against  Piso,  55  B.C.,  and  the  Second  Philippic,  44. 
It  occurs  in  a  poem,  most  probably  "  De  Suo  Consulatu,"  and 
provoked  the  ridicule  of  the  wits  and  critics.  He  clung  to  it, 
however,  says  Forsyth,  with  true  parental  fondness  for  a  de- 
formed offspring,  calling  it  in  "  De  Officiis  "  "  a  capital  line, 
which  I  hear  is  attacked  by  the  wicked  and  the  envious."  — 
Life.  Antony,  in  reply  to  the  attacks  of  Cicero's  philippics,' 
quoted  the  line  against  him,  while  charging  the  great  orator  with 
murder,  conspiracy,  and  assassination. 

Another  saying  which  has  become  proverbial  occurs   in   the 


MARCUS   TULLIUS   CICERO.  143 

oration  for  Milo,  IV.,  52  B.C.:  "Laws  are  silent  amid  the 
clash  of  arms"  (Silent  leges  inter  arma).  On  the  trial  of  Milo 
for  killing  the  notorious  Clodius,  the  court-house  was  surrounded 
by  soldiers  collected  by  the  friends  of  the  murdered  man ;  and 
jUicero,  disturbed  by  their  presence  and  the  uproar  of  the  mob, 
made  but  a  feeble  defence.  The  speech  which  lias  come  down 
to  us  was  composed  after  the  trial,  in  which  Milo  was  con- 
demned. Acknowledging  its  receipt  in  Marseilles,  \vhere  he 
was  living  in  exile,  Milo  considered  himself  fortunate  that  so 
convincing  a  speech  was  not  actually  delivered,  "  else  I  should 
not  now  be  enjoying  the  delicious  mullets  of-  this  place." 

When  Julius  Caesar  entered  the  Roman  treasury,  after  crossing 
the  Rubicon,  he  was  opposed  by  the  tribune  Metellus,  whom  he 
threatened  to  run  through  with  his  sword,  telling  him  "  it  was 
much  more" trouble  to  say  it  than  to  do  it."  "Arms  and  laws," 
he  added,  "do  not  flourish  together." 

Marius  granted  the  freedom  of  the  city  to  a  thousand  Cameri- 
ans,  who  had  distinguished  themselves  by  their  behavior  in  the 
wars.  He  replied  to  the  objection  that  it  was  contrary  to  law, 
"  The  law  speaks  too  softly  to  be  heard  amid  the  din  of  arms." 
—  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

Otium  cum  dignitate. 

The  expression  "cum  dignitafe  o//wm,"  as  it  is  correctly  written 
(idleness  with  dignity),  occurs  in  the  oration  for  Sestius,  56  B.C. 
It  is  also  found  in  the  "Familiar  Letters,"  and  in  the  treatise 
"De  Oratore."  To  a  man  who  found  him  digging  potatoes  in 
his  garden,  Lord  Erskine  said,  "  This  is  what  you  call  otium  cum 
.  diggin-a-tater  !  "  The  younger  Pliny  used  in  a  letter  the  phrase, 
"  illud  jucundum  nil  ayere"  for  a  translation  of  which  we  need 
go  no  farther  than  to  the  Italian,  "  dolce  far  niente."' 

That  day  seemed  like  immortality  (immortalitatis  instar}. 

In  the  oration  against  Piso,  55  B.C.,  Cicero  spoke  thus  of  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  his  return  from  exile  was  hailed,  Septem- 
ber, 57,  when  Plutarch  reports  him  to  have  said,  "  Italy  brought 
me  on  her  shoulders  to  Rome."  In  a  letter  during  this  time, 
to  his  wife,  Cicero  said,  "It  is  not  my  crimes,  but  my  virtue, 
which  has  crushed  me." 


144  MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO. 

To  err  is  human. 

The  sentence  from  which  " errare  est  liumanum"  is  derived 
occurs  in  the  First  Philippic,  44  B.C.,  "  Cujusvis  hominis  est 
errare !  nullius  nisi  insipientis  in  errore  perseverare "  (Any  man. 
may  err !  only  a  fool  persists  in  his  error) .  * 

Pope  adds  the  Christian  counterpart,  "to  forgive,  divine."  — 
Essay  on  Criticism,  II.  325. 

Cui  bono? 

Quoted  from  Lucius  Cassius  in  the  Second  Philippic,  and  in 
the  orations  for  Milo  and  Roscius. 

Forsyth  says,  "  These  two  words  have  perhaps  been  oftener 
misapplied  than  any  in  the  Latin  language.  They  are  constantly 
translated,  or  used  in  the  sense  of,  '  What  good-  is  it  ? '  '  To 
what  end  does  it  serve  ?  '  Their  real  meaning  is,  '  Who  gains 
by  it?'  '  To  whom  is  it  an  advantage?'  and  the  origin  of  the 
expression  was  this :  When  Lucius  Cassius,  who  is  said  to  have 
been  a  man  of  stern  severity,  sat  as  quaestor  judicii  in  a  trial  for 
murder,  he  used  to  advise  the  judices  [our  jurymen]  to  inquire, 
when  there  "was  a  doubt  as  to  the  guilty  party,  who  had  a 
motive  for  the  crime,  who  wrould  gain  by  the  death;  in  other 
•words,  (cui  bono  fuerit?'  This  maxim  passed  into  a  proverb,  as 
also  the  expression  '  Cassiani  judices.'  "  —  Life  of  Cicero,  II.  292, 
note. 

Demosthenes  sometimes  nodded  in  his  orations. 

Plutarch  says  that  those  who  complain  that  Cicero  spoke  thus 
of  the  Athenian  orator,  in  one  of  his  epistles,  forget  the  many 
great  encomiums  he  bestowed  on  him  in  other  parts  of  his  works, 
besides  calling  his  orations  against  Antony  "philippics,"  in 
imitation  of  Demosthenes,  wrho  gave  that  name  to  his  speeches 
against  the  king  of  Maceclon. 

Horace  uses  a  similar  locution  to  that  of  Cicero  :  — 

"Et  idem 

Indignor  quandoque  bonus  dormitat  Homerus, 
Verum  operi  longo  fas  est  obrepere  soumuni." 

(I,  too,  take  it  ill  when  good  Homer  nods ;  but  sleep  may  be  allowed 
to  creep  over  an  author  in  a  long  work.)  —  De  Arte  Poet.,  359. 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO.  145 

The  same  poet  uses  an  appropriate  figure  in  a  comparison  to 

Apollo :  — 

"  Neque  semper  arcum 
Tendit  Apollo." 

(Apollo  does  not  always  bend  his  bow.)—  Odes,  II.  10, 19. 

Use  is  the  best  master. 

In  the  oration  for  Rabirius,  "  Usus  magister  est  optimus."  Fre- 
quent forms  of  the  saying  occur  in  Latin  authors:  " Rerum 
omnium  magister  usus." —  C^SAR  :  Bell.  Civ.,  2,  8.  "  Usus  mat/is- 
ter  egregius"'- — PLINY:  Letters,  1,  20. 

"  Usus, 
Quem  penes  arbitrium  est  et  jus  et  norma  loquendi." 

(Custom,  before  which  lies  the  decision,  the  law,  and  the  rule  of 
speaking.)  —  HORACE:  De  Arte  Poet.,  71. 

From  the  idea  of  the  mastership  acquired  by  custom,  may 
have  been  derived  the  Latin  maxim,  "  usus  tyrannus  "  (custom  is 
a  tyrant)  ;  and  the  legal  maxim,  "  Common  custom  is  common 
law." 

The  sinews  of  war  (nervus  rerum). 

In  the  Fifth  Philippic,  Cicero  calls  money  "  the  sinews  of 
war ;  "  and,  in  the  oration  for  the  Manilian  Law,  considers  "  rev- 
enues the  sinews  of  the  State  "  (vectigalia  nervos  ret  puNicce). 
Diogenes  Laertius  refers  the  phrase,  which  occurs  in  Plato 
("Republic  ")  and  Plutarch  ("  Cleomenes"),  to  the  philosopher 
Bion.  JEschines,  in  his  oration  against  Ctesiphon  (which  called 
forth  the  "Oration  on  the  Crown"),  reproached  Demosthenes, 
with  employing  this  among  other  newly  invented  phrases.  The 
Emperor  Henry  V.  (1081-1125)  introduced  it  into-  Germany, 
showing  a  Polish  ambassador  his  treasure,  which  he  called 
nervus  rerum  agendarum.  Champollion  and  Macchiavelli  natur- 
alized the  expression  in  French  and  Italian ;  the  latter  denying 
that  "money  is  the  sinews  of  war."  Rabelais  is  of  the  oppo- 
site opinion  :  "  Les  nerfs  des  batailles  sont  les  pe'cun^s."  -  Gargan- 
tua,  I.  46.  Montecuculi,  the  Imperialist  rival  of  Turenne  and 
Conde,  quotes  in  his  memoirs  the  saying  of  some  one  not  named, 
that  "  war  demanded  three  things,  —  money,  money,  money  I " 


146  MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO. 

(zum  Kriec/fiihren  sind  drierlei  D'mcje  noting:  Geld,  Geld,  Geld!) 
Zincgref  ("  Apothegm ata  ")  supplies  the  author  in  the  Imperial- 
ist field-marshal  Lazarus  von  Schvvendi. 

He  must  fall  either  by  the  hand  of  his  enemies,  or  by 
himself ;  for  he  is  his  own  worst  enemy. 

Of  Julius  Caesar,  B.C.  50;  at  a  time  when  the  Dictator  had 
made  himself  unpopular  in  Rome,  "  where,"  says  Forsyth,  "the 
people  seem  to  have  hissed  him  in  the  theatre,  and  his  plunder 
of  the  treasury  had  disabused  men's  minds  of  the  idea  of  his 
wealth.  Cicero  said  he  did  not  believe  his  '  reign  '  would  last 
six  months,"  and  hoped  he  should  live  to  see  his  fall. 

After  Pharsalia,  Caesar  restored  the  statues  of  Pompey,  which 
had  been  thrown  down.  Cicero,  a  partisan  of  the  defeated  gen- 
eral, said,  that  "  by  erecting  Pompey's  statues  Caesar  had  secured 
his  own." — PLUTARCH:  Apothegms.  Marcus  Marcellus  had 
also  been  an  adherent  of  Pompey,  but  was  pardoned  by  Cagsar 
after  an  oration  of  Cicero's,  which  has  come  down  to  us,  and 
which  is  really  a  eulogy  of  the  man  the  orator  had  always  op- 
posed. In  it  Cicero  says  to  Marcellus,  "  Wherever  you  are,  re- 
member that  you  are  equally  within  the  power  of  the  conqueror." 

After  the  death  of  Ca?sar,  which  he  applauded,  Cicero  said, 
"We  have  killed  the  king,  but  the  kingdom  is  with  us  still." 
He  probably  referred  to  Antony,  who  succeeded  to  Caesars  place 
in  the  affections  of  the  populace,  and  of  whom  Cicero  wrote  to 
Cassius :  "  Oh  that  you  had  invited  me  to  the  feast  of  the  Ides 
of  March  !  then  there  would  have  been  no  remains  " (reliquiarum 
nihiifuisset).  —  FORSYTH  :  Life. 

While   there's  life,  there's  hope  (^Egroto,  dum  anima  est, 
spes  est). 

To  Atticus,  Letters,  IX.  10. 

"  While  there  is  life,  there's  hope,  he  cried." 

GAY:  The  Sick  Man  and  the  Angel. 

Rem  acu  tetigisti. 

To  a  senator  whose  father  was  a  tailor.  Like  our  saying, 
"To  hit  the  nail  on  the  head."  "Many  a  man,"  says  Goethe, 
"strikes  with  his  hammer  here  and  there  on  the  wall,  and  thinks 


MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO.  147 

he  hits  every  time  the  nail  on  the  head  "  (Mancher  klopft.  mil 
dem  Hammer  an  der  Wand  herum,  und  ylaubt  er  treffe  jedesmal  dtn 
Nayel  aufden  Kopf).  —  Kunst  und  Alterthum,  III.  1,  1821. 

Cicero  was  the  wit  of  his  time.  Thus,  being  told  of  a  man 
who  had  ploughed  up  the  ground  in  which  his  father  was  buried, 
he  remarked,  "That  is  certainly  cultivating  his  memory  "  (Hoc 
est  vere  colere  monumentum). 

Seeing  his  son-in-law  Dolabella,  who  was  of  short  stature, 
with  a  long  sword  at  his  side,  he  asked,  "  Who  has  tied  that 
little  fellow  to  his  sword?  "  —  FORSYTH  :  Life. 

Crassus  reproached  Cicero  with  accusing  him  from  the  ros- 
trum, when  but  a  few  days  before  he  had  praised  him :  the 
orator  replied,  "  I  did  that  by  way  of  experiment,  to  see  what  I 
could  do  with  a  bad  subject."  At  another  time  Crassus  wished 
to  correct  his  own  remark,  that  none  of  his  ancestors  had  lived 
more  than  threescore  years,  and  wondered  how  he  could  have  said 
it.  Cicero  dryly  suggested,  "You  knew  that  such  an  assertion 
would  be  very  agreeable  to  the  people  of  Rome." 

One  Octavius,  who  was  an  African,  said  that  he  could  not 
hear  Cicero,  who  was  speaking :  "  That  is  somewhat  strange," 
replied  the  orator,  "  since  you  are  not  without  a  hole  in  your 
ear."  This  was  a  mark  of  slavery  among  some  nations.  —  PLU- 
TARCH :  Life. 

Faustus,  Sulla's  son,  had  wasted  his  estate,  and  was  obliged 
to  put  up  bills  for  the  sale  of  it.  Cicero  observed,  "  I  like  these 
bills  much  better  than  his  father's."  —  Ibid.  The  pun  refers 
to  Sulla's  bills  of  proscription  issued  against  citizens  during  his 
dictatorship. 

Hortensius,  the  counsel  for  Verres,  in  answer  to  Cicero's  in- 
sinuation, said  that  he  did  not  know  how  to  solve  riddles : 
"  That  is  strange,"  replied  the  accuser  of  the  Sicilian  governor, 
"  when  you  have  a  sphinx  in  your  house."  Verres  had  unlaw- 
fully presented  Hortensius  with  a  statue  of  the  sphinx,  from  the 
spoils  of  his  province.  The  sphinx  of  mythology  was  a  monster 
which  sat  upon  a  rock,  and  proposed  the  following  riddle  to 
every  Theban  who  passed  by :  "A  being  with  four  feet  has  two 
feet  and  three  feet,  and  only  one  voice;  but  its  feet  vary;  and 
when  it  has  most  it  is  weakest."  (Edipus  solved  the  riddle  by 
saying  it  was  man,  whereupon  the  sphinx  killed  herself. 


U8  MARCUS  TULLIUS  CICERO. 

Laberius,  a  Roman  knight,  was  looking  for  a  seat  in  the 
theatre ;  and  Cicero  said  to  him,  "  I  would  receive  you  here  if  I 
had  room ;  "  to  which  he  replied,  ref ering  to  the  orator's  political 
vacillation,  "  I  am  surprised  that  you  have  not  room,  as  you 
generally  sit  on  two  stools." 

I   am   happy  to  be   praised   by  a  man  whom   others 
praise  (Lcetus  sum  laudari  me  a  laudato  mro). 

Quoted  from  Nsevius,  an  early  Latin  poet. 

"  Approbation  from  Sir  Hubert  Stanley  is  praise  indeed."  — 
MORTOX  :  A  Cure  for  the  Heartache. 

When  some  one  said,  "  Lyra  will  rise  to-morrow,"  Cicero 
replied,  "  Undoubtedly  :  there  is  an  edict  for  it ;  "  intending  to 
ridicule  Caesar's  correction  of  the  calendar.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life 
of  Ccesar. 

Caninius  Revitius  was  consul  but  a  day :  Cicero  said  of  him, 
"  We  have  a  consul  so  vigilant,  that  he  has  not  slept  a  single 
night  during  his  consulate." 

"  There  was  never  yet,"  Cicero  once  said,  "  true  poet  or  orator, 
that  thought  any  other  better  than  himself." 

Nothing   dries   sooner   than   a   tear   (Nihil   lacrimd  citius 
arescit). 

Pro  aris  et  foe  is. 

When  Fitz-Greene  Halleck  wrote  in  his  spirited  poem,  "  Marco 
Bozzaris,"  "  Strike,  for  your  altars  and  your  fires  !  "  he  translated 
an  expression  of  Cicero,  "  Pro  aris  et  focis"  in  the  oration  for 
Roscius,  chap.  v. 

Let  me  die  in  my  fatherland. 

Having  made  an  attempt  to  escape  by  sea  from  the  proscrip- 
tion of  Antony  and  Octavius,  he  found  the  wind  contrary,  and 
the  sea  rough  :  he  therefore  returned,  saying,  "  Let  me  die  in 
my  fatherland,  which  I  have  so  often  saved."  As  his  attendants 
set  down  the  litter  near  his  Formian  villa,  Cicero  exclaimed  to 
the  soldiers,  as  he  drew  back  the  curtains,  and  stretched  forth 
his  head,  "  Here,  veterans,  if  you  think  it  right  —  strike  !  "  — 
FORSYTH  :  Life. 


HENRY  CLAY.  149 


HENRY  CLAY. 

[An  American  statesman  and  orator;  "born  in  Virginia,  April  12, 
1777;  elected  United -States  senator  from  Kentucky,  1806;  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  1811,  and  chosen  speaker;  commissioner 
to  sign  the  treaty  of  peace  with  England,  1814;  a  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  1824  and  1844;  senator,  1831;  resigned,  1842;  re-elected, 
1848,  and  served  until  his  death,  June  29,  1852.] 

Sir,  I  would  rather  be  right  than  be  president. 

A  remark  which  became  proverbial ;  made  to  Mr.  Preston  of 
Kentucky,  who  told  him  that  the  compromise  measures  of  1850, 
which  he  advocated  as  a  means  of  preserving  the  Union,  would 
injure  his  chances  for  the  presidency  by  alienating  the  Northern, 
or  anti-slavery,  Whigs.  Clay's  motto  then  and  always  was,  "I 
know  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  no  West ;  "  which  he  first  used 
when  taunted  by  a  Southern  senator  with  being  unfaithful  to  his 
section.  During  the  debate  in  the  Senate  on  the  compromise 
measures,  he  declared,  "If  Kentucky  should  to-morrow  unfurl 
the  banner  of  resistance  unjustly,  I  will  never  fight  under  that 
banner.  I  owe  a  paramount  allegiance  to  the  whole  Union,  —  a 
subordinate  one  to  my  own  State."  And  again  he  said,  "  The 
senator  speaks  of  Virginia  being  my  country.  The  Union,  sir, 
is  my  country."  Patrick  Henry  said  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, Sept.  5,  1774,  "  I  am  not  a  Virginian,  but  an  American," 
and  Daniel  Webster  declared,  "  I  was  born  an  American,  I  live 
an  American,  I  shall  die  an  American." 

It  seems  you  are  resolved  to  speak  until  your  audience 
arrive. 

To  a  dull  and  interminable  member  of  Congress,  who  said  to 
Clay,  "You,  sir,  speak  for  the  present  generation,  but  I  speak 
for  posterity."  "  Mr.  Townsend  mentions,"  says  Jennings,  "  that 
an  interminable  orator,  haranguing  to  empty  benches,  whispered 
to  a  friend,  'I  am  speaking  to  posterity.'  —  'If  you  go  on  at 
that  rate,'  replied  his  friend,  '  you  will  see  your  audience 
before  you.'  "  —  Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament.  It  was  enough 
for  the  member  of  Congress  from  North  Carolina,  in  whose 
district  was  the  county  of  Buncombe,  when  told  that  no  one  in 
the  house  was  listening  to  him,  to  say,  "No  matter:  I  am  speak- 
ing for  Buncombe." 


150  CLEMENT  I. 


On  leaving  a  party  at  sunrise,  and  being  asked  how  he  could 
preside  that  day  as  speaker  of  the  House,  Clay  replied,  "  Come 
up,  and  you  shall  see  how  I  will  throw  the  reins  over  their 
necks." 

CLEMENT  I. 

[Bishop  of  Rome;  succeeded  Linus,  A.D.  67,  or  Anacletus,  91; 
supposed  to  be  the  Clement  to  whom  St.  Paul  refers  as  his  fellow- 
laborer;  died,  according  to  Eusebius,  100,  and  is  reckoned  among  the 
martyrs.] 

"We  are  in  the  same  boat. 

To  the  church  of  Corinth,  on  the  occasion  of  a  dissension. 
The  letter  from  which  this  is  taken  is  still  extant,  and  is  prized 
as  an  important  memorial  of  the  early  Church. 

CLEMEXT   VII. 

[Giulio  de  Medici,  Pope  of  Rome;  succeeded  Adrian  VI.,  1523; 
entered  the  league  against  Charles  V.,  with  Venice  and  France; 
made  prisoner  on  the  capture  of  Rome  by  the  Constable  de  Bour- 
bon; issued  a  bull  against  Henry  VIII.  of  England,  respecting  the 
divorce  of  Catherine  of  Aragon;  died  September,  1531.] 

Non  possumus. 

The  answer,  "  TVe  cannot,"  to  the  demand  by  Henry  VIII.  of 
the  Pope's  consent  to  his  divorce  from  Queen  Catherine,  failing 
to  obtain  which  the  king  threatened  to  attack  the  papal  domin- 
ions. Since  that  time  it  has  been  the  formula  of  refusals  of  the 
supreme  pontiff. 

CLEMEXT  XIV. 

[Giovanni  Ganganelli,  Pope  of  Rome,  born  near  Rimini,  1705; 
succeeded  Clement  XIII.,  176!);  suppressed  the  order  of  the  Jesuits, 
1773;  founded  the  Clementine  Museum;  died  1774.] 

I  have  not  been  pope  long  enough  to  forget  good 
manners. 

When  told,  after  holding  his  first  reception  on  his  elevation 
to  the  papacy,  that  he  should  not  have  returned  the  bows  of  the 
ambassadors. 

Cardinal  de  Bernis,  the  French  literary  ecclesiastic,  who  told 


CLEOBULUS.  151 


Cardinal  Fleury  that  he  would  "  wait "  (v.  p.  52),  was  said 
to  be  very  much  pleased  at  Ganganelli's  elevation.  "I  can 
easily  believe  it,"  replied  the  latter:  "poets  ought  to  love 
metamorphoses,"  alluding1  to  those  of  Ovid. 

When  asked  by  a  lady  if  he  did  not  fear  the  indiscretion  of 
his  secretaries,  the  Pope  replied,  pointing  to  the  fingers  of  his 
right  hand,  "No,  madam,  and  yet  1  have  three." 

Of  Houdon's  strikingly  life-like  statue  of  St.  Bruno,  who 
founded  the  order  of  the  Silent  Carthusians,  near  Grenoble, 
where  the  Grande  Chartreuse  was  afterwards  built,  Clement 
XIV.  made  a  remark  almost  as  celebrated  as  the  statue  itself, 
which  is  now  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  degli  Angeli  at 
Rome :  "  He  would  speak,  did  iiot  the  rules  of  his  house  impose 
silence." 


CLEOBULUS. 

[One  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece;  king  of  Lindus,  in 
Rhodes,  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.] 

Be  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak. 

"Let  every  man  be  swift  to  hear,  slow  to  speak,  slow  to 
wrath."  —  Epistle  of  St.  James,  i.  19. 

Attributed  to  Bias  in  the  form,  "Hear  much,  speak  little." 
Cleobulus  also  advised  "moderation  in  all  things." 
His  daughter,  Cleobtiline,  was   a   great   inventor  of   riddles. 
To   her  is    ascribed   that   on    the  year :    "  A  father  has  twelve 
children,  and  each  of  these  thirty  daughters,  on  one  side  white 
and  on  the  other  black;  and,  though  immortal,  they  all  die." 

CLOT  AT  RE  I. 

[Fourth  son  of  Clovis,  king  of  the  Franks;  born  A.D.  497;  on  the 
death  of  his  father,  became  king  of  Soissons,  and  extended  his 
dominions  by  murdering  his  nephews,  thus  acquiring  all  the  terri- 
tory which  Clovis  had  divided  among  his  sons;  died  about  5(50.] 

What  great  God  is  this,  that  pulls  down  the  strength 
of  the  strongest  kings? 

The  last  words  of  the  "  wild  Clotaire,"  as  Carlyle  calls  him  ; 
given  by  Gregory  of  Tours.  -  -  History,  IV.  21. 


152  CLOYIS  I. 


CLOVIS  I. 

[King  of  the  Franks,  born  about  466  A.D.;  succeeded  Childeric, 
481;  converted  to  Christianity,  496;  defeated  and  killed  Alaric  near 
Poitiers,  507;  died  511.] 

Had  I  been  present  at  the  head  of  my  valiant  Franks, 
I  would  have  avenged  his  injuries. 

On  hearing  for  the  first  time  after  his  conversion  the  story  of 
Christ's  passion  and  death.  Thus  Crillou,  called  by  Henry  IV. 
"the  bravest  of  the  brave"  (le  brave  des  braves},  —  a  title  after- 
wards given  by  Xapoleon  to  Marshal  Xey,  —  when  excited  at 
Avignon  by  a  preacher's  eloquent  description  of  Christ's  suffer- 
ings, put  his  hand  to  his  sword,  crying  aloud,  "Where  wert 
thou,  Crillon  ?  "  (Oil  etais-tu,  Cr'dlon  ?) 

The  conversion  of  Clovis,  after  his  marriage  to  a  Christian 
princess,  was  the  result  of  a  vow  made  when  at  the  point  of 
defeat  in  the  battle  of  Tolbiac.  The  fortune  of  the  day  having 
changed,  Clovis  gained  a  complete  victory  over  his  German  foes. 
He  then  himself  demanded  to  be  baptized,  and  was  accordingly 
led  by  St.  Remi,  the  venerable  archbishop,  on  Easter  Eve,  496, 
through  the  streets  of  Rheims,  which  were  decorated  for  the 
occasion.  Astonished  by  the  splendor  of  a  scene  so  new  to  him, 
which  was  presented  by  the  lights  and  banners,  by  the  smoke 
of  incense,  the  chanting  of  the  priests,  and  the  shouts  of  the 
multitude,  Clovis  asked  the  prelate,  who  was  holding  him  by  the 
hand,  "  Is  not  this  the  kingdom  of  God,  which  you  promised 
me  ?  "  —  "  Xot  the  kingdom,  but  the  way  to  it,"  was  the  reply  of 
St.  Remi,  who,  as  he  led  him  to  the  font,  uttered  the  historic 
words,  "  Bend  thy  neck,  meek  Sicambrian  :  adore  what  thou  hast 
burned,  burn  what  thou  hast  adored  "  (in  the  original  Latin  of 
Gregory  of  Tours,  "  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Franks,*'  II. 
chap.  31,  "  Mitis  depone  colla,  Sicamber;"  in  French,  "  Flechis  le 
cou,  Sicambre  adouci:  adore  ce  que  tu  brulais,  bride  ce  que  tu 
adorals"  -Bordier's  Translation}. 

No  historic  mot  has  suffered  more  than  this  in  its  descent 
through  the  centuries.  If  the  change  it  gradually  underwent 
may  be  reasoned  upon,  it  may  have  been  thought  that  the  word 
"meek  "  could  only  be  applied  to  a  heathen  warrior  because  he 
had  acquired  humility  by  conversion  to  Christianity;  before 


SIR  EDWARD  COKE.  153 

that  change  he  must  naturally  have  been  proud,  the  Sicambri 
being  themselves  the  proudest  tribe  of  Franks  :  substituting  the 
previous  characteristic  for  the  acquired  virtue,  we  have  the  form 
in  which  the  saying  has  become  proverbial  in  France,  but  in 
which  it  presents  the  exact  opposite  of  the  original,  "  Bend  thy 
neck,  proud  Sicambrian  "  (Flechis  le  cou,  Jier  Sicambre  /) 

Menage,  one  of  the  lights  of  the  Hotel  Rambouillet,  said  to 
his  friend  Chapelain  at  the  conclusion  of  the  first  representation 
of  Moliere's  "Precieuses  Ridicules,"  which  threw  contempt  upon 
the  literary  society  of  the  hotels,  and  revolutionized  the  drama, 
"  Henceforth  we  must  adore  what  we  have  burned,  and  burn 
what  we  have  adored !  " 

SIH  EDWARD  COKE. 

[The  eminent  English  jurist;  born  in  Norfolk,  1552;  educated  at 
Cambridge;  solicitor-general,  1592;  attorney-general,  1594;  speaker 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  1593;  chief-justice  of  the  common  pleas, 
1606,  and  of  the  King's  Bench,  1613,  from  which  he  was  removed  by 
James  I.,  1616;  opposed  the  court  party  from  that  time  until  1628, 
when  he  produced  his  commentary  upon  Littleton;  died  1633.] 

Law  is  the  safest  helmet  (lex  est  tutissima  cassis). 

The  Latin  inscription  on  the  rings  which  he  gave  when  made 
Serjeant. 

A  man's  house  is  his  castle. 

In  the  "  Third  Institute,"  Coke  says,  "  For  a  man's  house  is 
his  castle "  (et  domus  sua  cuique  tutissimum  refugium)  ;  and  in 
Semayne's  case,  5  Rep.  91,  "  The  house  of  every  one  is  to  him  as 
his  castle  and  fortress,  as  well  for  his  defence  against  injury  and 
violence  as  for  his  repose."  Chatham  made  a  splendid  use  of 
this  comparison  in  a  speech  on  the  Excise  Bill:  "  The  poorest  man 
may,  in  his  cottage,  bid  defiance  to  all  the  forces  of  the  crown. 
It  may  be  frail,  its  roof  may  shake,  the  wind  may  blow  through 
it,  the  storm  may  enter,  the  rain  may  enter ;  but  the  king  of 
England  cannot  enter !  All  his  force  dare  not  cross  the  threshold 
of  the  ruined  tenement."  When  an  Irish  attorney  said  of  his 
client's  house,  "The  rain  may  enter  it:  the  king  cannot,"  — 


154  SAMUEL  TAYLOR  COLERIDGE. 

"What!"  said  the  judge  (Lord  Norbury),  "not  the  reigning 
king?" 

Grattan  said  of  Burke,  "  He  became  at  last  such  an  enthusi- 
astic admirer  of  kingly  power  that  he  could  not  have  slept  com- 
fortably upon  his  pillow  if  he  had  not  thought  that  the  king  had 
a  right  to  carry  it  off  from  under  his  head." 

Magna  Charta  is  such  a  fellow  that  he  will  have  no 
sovereign. 

Objecting  to  the  words,  "  sovereign  power,"  which  the  lords, 
in  an  amendment  to  the  Petition  of  Right,  desired  to  leave 
with  the  crown  for  the  protection  of  the  people.  At  a  confer- 
ence between  the  Lords  and  Commons  on  the  Petition  of  Right, 
May  8,  1628,  Coke  said,  "  We  have  a  maxim  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  written  on  the  walls  of  our  house,  that  old  ways 
are  the  safest  and  surest  ways." 

When  the  judges  were  asked  if  they  ought  not  to  stay  pro- 
ceedings until  his  Majesty  had  consulted  them  in  a  case  where 
he  believed  his  prerogative  or  interests  concerned,  and  required 
them  to  attend  him  for  their  advice,  all  the  judges  except  Coke 
answered  in  the  affirmative :  he  proudly  replied,  "  When  the 
case  happens,  I  shall  do  that  which  shall  be  fit  for  a  judge  to 
do." 

Corporations  have  no  souls. 

In  the  case  of  Sutton's  Hospital,  10  Rep.  39,  Coke  said,  "  They 
[corporations]  cannot  commit  trespass,  nor  be  outlawed,  nor 
excommunicate ;  for  they  have  no  souls."  Lord  Thurlow  once 
asked,  in  his  characteristically  rough  way,  "  You  never  expected 
justice  from  a  company,  did  you?  They  have  neither  a  soul  to 
lose,  nor  a  body  to  kick." 

SAMUEL  TAYLOR   COLERIDGE. 

[An  English  poet  and  author;  born  in  Devonshire,  Oct.  21, 1772; 
while  a  Cambridge  undergraduate  enlisted  as  a  dragoon,  but  was 
discovered  and  discharged;  printed  his  first  volume  of  poems,  1796; 
removed  to  Keswick,  1800,  and  lived  in  the  society  of  Southey  and 
Wordsworth;  published  "The  Friend,"  1809,  and  other  works  be- 
tween 1816  and  1825;  removed  to  London,  and  died  there,  1834.] 


SAMUEL  TAYLOR   COLERIDGE.  155 

As  there  is  much  beast  and  some  devil  in  man,  so 
there  is  some  angel  and  God  in  him. 

Frederick  the  Great  saw  only  the  first  element :  "  Every  man 
has  a  wild  beast  within  him,"  he  wrote  to  Voltaire,  in  1759. 
"  If  a  man  is  not  rising  upwards  to  be  an  angel,"  said  Coleridge, 
"depend  upon  it,  he  is  sinking  downwards  to  be  a  devil." 

Good  and  bad  men  are  each  less  so  than  they  seem. 

Most  of  these  quotations  are  from  Coleridge's  "  Table  Talk  :  "  — 

"  A  man  with  a  bad  heart,"  he  said,  "  has  been  sometimes  saved 
by  a  strong  head;  but  a  corrupt  woman  is  lost  forever.'' 

Talent,  lying  in  the  understanding,  is  often  inherited;  genius, 
being  the  action  of  reason  and  imagination,  rarely  or  never. 

Truth  is  a  good  dog ;  but  beware  of  barking  too  close  to  the 
heels  of  an  error,  lest  you  get  your  brains  kicked  out. 

In  politics  what  begins  in  fear  usually  ends  in  folly. 

Carlo  Dolce's  Christs  are  always  in  sugar  candy. 

A  rogue  is  a  roundabout  fool ;  a  fool  in  circumbendibus. 

A  man  of  maxims  only  is  like  a  Cyclops  with  one  eye,  and 
that  eye  placed  in  the  back  of  his  head. 

Silence  does  not  always  mean  wisdom. 

The  man's  desire  is  for  the  woman  ;  but  the  woman's  desire  is 
rarely  other  than  for  the  desire  of  the  man. 

"  In  her  first  passion,  woman  loves  her  lover: 
In  all  the  others,  all  she  loves  is  love." 

BYRON:  Don  Juan,  III.  3. 

Shakespeare  is  of  no  age. 

"  He  was  not  of  an  age,  but  for  all  time." 

BEN  JONSON  :  To  the  Memory  of  Shakespeare. 

Painting  is  the  intermediate  something  between  a  thought 
and  a  thing. 

Frenchmen  are  like  grains  of  gunpowder,  each  by  itself  smutty 
and  contemptible ;  but  mass  them  together,  they  are  terrible 
indeed ! 

When  a  man  mistakes  his  thoughts  for  persons  and  things,  he 
is  mad. 

Schiller  is  a  thousand  times  more  hearty  than  Goethe. 


156  SAMUEL  TAYLOR  COLERIDGE. 

Some  men  are  like  musical  glasses,  —  to  produce  their  finest 
tones  you  must  keep  them  wet. 

What  comes  from  the  heart  goes  to  the  heart.  [Of  composi- 
tion.] 

You  abuse  snuff.  Perhaps  it  is  the  final  cause  of  the  human 
nose. 

To  see  Kean  act  was  like  reading  Shakespeare  by  flashes  of 
lightning. 

The  largest  part  of  mankind  are  nowhere  greater  strangers 
than  at  home. 

Oh  the  difficulty  of  fixing  the  attention  of  men  on  the  world 
within  them ! 

lii  the  treatment  of  nervous  diseases,  he  is  the  best  physician 
who  is  the  most  ingenious  inspirer  of  hope. 

No  mind  is  thoroughly  well  organized  that  is  deficient  in  the 
sense  of  humor. 

There  are  three  classes  into  which  all  elderly  women  that  I 
ever  knew  were  to  be  divided  :  first,  that  dear  old  soul ;  second, 
that  old  woman ;  third,  that  old  witch. 

If  you  take  from.  Virgil  his  diction  and  metre,  what  do  you 
leave  him  ? 

The  earth  with  its  scarred  face  is  the  symbol  of  the  past ;  the 
air  and  heaven,  of  futurity. 

You  may  depend  upon  it  that  a  slight  contrast  of  character  is 
very  material  to  happiness  in  marriage. 

Intense  study  of  the  Bible  will  keep  any  writer  from  being 
vulgar  in  point  of  style. 

Dry  den's  genius  was  of  that  sort  which  catches  fire  by  its  own 
motion  :  his  chariot-wheels  get  hot  by  driving  fast. 

How  strange  and  awful  is  the  synthesis  of  life  and  death  in  the 
gusty  winds  and  falling  leaves  of  an  autumnal  day ! 

I  don't  wonder  you  think  Wordsworth  a  small  man : 
he  runs  so  far  before  us  all  that  he  dwarfs  himself 
in  the  distance. 

To  Mackintosh,  who  expressed  his  astonishment  at  Cole- 
ridge's estimation  of  one  so  much  his  inferior  as  Wordsworth. 
When  asked  which  of  Wordsworth's  productions  he  liked  best, 
Coleridge  replied,  "his  daughter  Dora." 


PRINCE  DE   COXDE.  157 

Coleridge,  who  was  a  bad  rider,  was  accosted  when  on  horse- 
back by  a  wag  who  asked  him  if  he  knew  what  happened  to 
Balaam:  "  The  same  thing  as  happened  to  me,"  replied  the 
poet,  —  "  an  ass  spoke  to  him." 

Southey  said  of  him,  "  The  moment  any  thing  assumes  the 
shape  of  a  duty,  Coleridge  feels  himself  incapable  of  discharging 
it." 

Hookham  Frere  once  observed,  "  Coleridge's  waste  words 
would  have  set  up  a  dozen  of  your  modern  poets." 

PRINCE  DE  CONDE. 

[Louis  I.  de  Bourbon,  a  French  general;  born  in  Venclome,  1530; 
avowing  himself  a  Calvinist,  became  chief  of  the  Protestant  army  in 
the  civil  war,  until  killed  in  the  battle  of  Jaruac,  March  13, 1569,  after 
he  had  surrendered.] 

Danger  is  sweet  for  Christ  and  my  country. 

The  motto  on  his  banner  at  the  battle  of  Jarnac.  Before  the 
action  began,  he  received  a  kick  in  the  leg  from  a  horse  ;  but,  al- 
though the  bone  protruded  through  his  boot,  he  spurred  on  his 
followers  by  charging  them  to  remember  the  condition  in  which 
Louis  de  Bourbon  entered  the  battle  for  "  Christ  and  his  country." 
At  first,  all  gave  way  before  him  ;  but,  wounded  in  the  arm,  his 
leg  broken,  and  his  horse  killed  under  him,  he  fell  to  the  ground; 
and,  unable  to  fight  or  fly,  surrendered  to  the  Due  d'Anjou, 
afterward  Henry  III.,  by  one  of  whose  officers  Conde  was  shot 
through  the  head. 

THE   GREAT  CONDE. 

[Louis  II.  de  Bourbon,  Prince  de  Conde,  commonly  called  "the 
great ;  "  born  in  Paris,  1621  ;  gained  a  victory  over  the  Spaniards  at 
Rocroi,  1643;  and  over  the  Germans  at  Nordlingen,  1645;  commanded 
the  royalists  in  the  Fronde,  until  arrested  and  imprisoned  in  the 
Bastille;  having  been  sentenced  to  death,  entered  the  service  of 
Spain,  until  the  treaty  of  the  Pyrenees,  1659;  died  1686.] 

Would   to   God  it  were  Moliere    bringing  me  yours ! 
(faimerais  mieux  que  cefut  lui  qui  me  presented  la  votre!) 

To  a  versifier  \vho  brought  him  an  epitaph  he  had  composed 
for  Moliere. 


158  CONFUCIUS. 


Demonax  replied  to  Admetus,  a  bad  poet,  who  showed  him 
an  epitaph  he  had  written  upon  himself  in  one  verse,  "  It  is 
so  pretty,  I  wish  it  were  there  already  ! ': 

The  manners  of  the  great  Conde  partook  more  of  the  camp 
than  of  the  court.  One  day  the  son  of  the  Due  d'Epernon  spoke 
several  times  of  his  own  father,  prefixing  in  each  case  the  word 
"  Monsieur."  Disgusted  by  so  unnecessary  a  use  of  titles,  Conde 
called  out,  "  Monsieur  the  master  of  horse,  tell  monsieur  my 
coachman  to  harness  messieurs  mv  horses  to  mv  carriage"  (M. 

V  V  O  \ 

Vccuyer,  allez  dire  a  M  mon  coclier  qu'il  incite  MM.  mes  cltevaux 
a  mon  carosse}. 

Boileau,  who  used  great  freedom  with  Louis  XIV.,  quailed 
before  Conde.  "  I  can  argue  before  the  king,"  he  said,  "  but  am 
silent  before  Conde  ; "  and  on  another  occasion  he  referred  to 
the  tone  of  a  victorious  general  which  the  hero  of  Nordlingen 
carried  into  literary  circles  :  "  Henceforth  I  shall  agree  with 
M.  le  prince,  especially  when  he  is  wrong. " 

Conde  and  Turenne  were  opposed  to  one  another  during  the 
troubles  of  the  Fronde  ;  and  Conde  was  asked  why  he  did  not 

«/ 

take  his  antagonist  prisoner,  he  was  near  him  so  often.  "  I  am 
afraid  he'll  take  me,"  was  the  frank  reply. 


Your  majesty  is  the  master,  but  I  pray  him  to  make 
me  the  janitor. 

When  the  king  claimed  a  right  to  the  prince's  chateau  of 
Chantilly,  under  the  treaty  with  Spain,  which  country  Conde 
had  supported.  Louis  XIV.  understood  the  answer  to  his 
question  what  the  price  of  it  was,  and  dropped  the  subject.  The 
estate  is  now  owned  by  the  Due  d'Aumale,  son  of  Louis  Philippe. 

When  asked  in  his  last  days  to  write  his  memoirs,  the  prince 
replied,  "  All  that  I  have  done  is  worthy  only  of  oblivion  :  write 
the  king's  history,  then  all  other  memoirs  will  be  superfluous." 

CONFUCIUS. 

[The  Chinese  philosopher;  born  551  B.C.;  at  twenty-two  came 
forward  as  a  public  teacher;  one  of  the  chief  ministers  of  the  king, 
499,  and,  later,  minister  of  justice;  spent  the  rest  of  his  life,  after 
retiring  from  public  affairs,  in  travel,  inculcating  his  doctrines;  died 
478.] 


CONFUCIUS.  159 


Those  who  have  been  united  in  life  should  not  be 
parted  after  death. 

Causing  the  remains  of  his  mother  to  be  buried  beside  those 
of  his  father. 

"  Saul  and  Jonathan  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their  lives, 
and  in  their  death  they  were  not  divided"  (1  Sam.  i.  23). 

He  said  of  a  woman  whose  father-in-law,  husband,  and  son 
had  been  killed  by  tigers,  but  who  preferred  to  remain  where 
she  was,  because  the  government  was  not  oppressive,  "  Oppres- 
sive government  is  more  cruel  than  a  tiger." 

He  told  one  of  his  disciples  to  take  a  horse  from  his  carriage, 
and  present  it  in  payment  of  the  funeral  expenses  of  a  friend, 
with  whose  family  he  had  been  condoling  while  on  a  journey. 
"  I  dislike,"  he  said,  "  the  thought  of  my  tears  not  being  followed 
by  any  thing." 

He  who  exercises  government  by  means  of  his  virtue 
may  be  compared  to  the  north -pole  star,  which 
keeps  its  placo,  and  all  the  other  stars  turn  to- 
wards it. 

This  and  the  following  are  from  the  "Analects,"  or  "Table 
Talk,"  London,  1867:  — 

When  I  have  presented  one  corner  of  a  subject  to  any  one, 
and  he  cannot  from  it  learn  the  other  three,  I  do  not  repeat  my 
lesson. 

In  the  book  of  poetry  are  three  hundred  pieces;  but  the 
design  of  them  all  may  be  embraced  in  that  one  sentence, 
"Have  no  depraved  thoughts."  [Socrates  said,  "I  pray  thee, 
O  God,  that  I  may  be  beautiful  within."] 

Learning  without  thought  is  labor  lost:  thought  without 
learning  is  perilous. 

"  A  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing." 

POPE:  Essay  on  Criticism. 

Gravity  is  only  the  bark  of  wisdom's  tree,  but  it  pre- 
serves it. 

La  Rochefoucauld  defined  gravity  as  a  mystery  of  matter 
invented  to  conceal  faults  of  mind  (un  mystere  de  corps  invent  e 
pour  dissimuler  les  dtfauts  de  V esprit). 


160  CONST  ANTIXE  THE  GREAT. 

He  who  offends  against  Heaven  has  none  to  whom  he  can  pray. 

When  we  see  men  of  worth,  we  should  think  of  becoming 
like  them :  when  we  see  men  of  a  contrary  character,  we  should 
turn  inward  and  examine  ourselves. 

What  you  do  not  like  when  done  to  yourself,  do  not  do  to 
others.  [A  negative  form  of  the  Golden  Rule.] 

I  am  not  concerned  that  I  have  no  office :  I  am  concerned  how 
I  may  fit  myself  for  one.  I  am  not  concerned  that  I  am  not 
known :  I  seek  to  be  worthy  to  be  known. 

When  the  accomplishments  and  solid  qualities  are  equally 
blended,  we  then  have  the  man  of  complete  virtue. 

The  superior  man  thinks  of  virtue :  the  small  man  thinks  of 
comfort.  The  superior  man  thinks  of  the  sanctions  of  law : 
the  small  man  thinks  of  the  favors  which  he  may  receive. 

The  superior  man  is  affable,  but  not  adulatory :  the  mean  man 
is  adulatory,  but  not  affable. 

I  have  not  seen  a  person  who  loved  virtue,  or  one  who  hated 
what  was  not  virtuous.  [In  the  discouragement  of  his  latter 
da  vs.] 

K         -i 

What  the  superior  man  seeks  is  in  himself :  what  the  small 
man  seeks  is  in  others. 

A  poor  man  who  does  not  flatter,  and  a  rich  man  who  is  not 
proud,  are  passable  characters;  but  they  are  not  equal  to  the 
poor  who  are  cheerful,  and  the  rich  who  yet  love  the  rules  of 
propriety. 

Extravagance  leads  to  insubordination,  and  parsimony  to 
meanness.  It  is  better  to  be  mean  than  insubordinate. 

A  man  can  enlarge  his  principles :  principles  do  not  enlarge 
the  man. 

The  cautious  seldom  err. 

CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT. 

[The  first  Christian  emperor  of  Rome,  born  272  A.D.;  proclaimed 
emperor  at  York,  306;  defeated  Maxiinian  and  Maxentius,  312,  and 
became  supreme  in  the  West;  by  the  defeat  of  Licinius  near  Byzan- 
tium, was  sole  emperor;  assembled  the  Council  of  Nicrea,  325,  which 
condemned  Arianism,  and  adopted  the  Nicene  creed;  transferred 
his  court  to  Byzantium,  328;  died  at  Nicoinedia,  337,  being  baptized 
just  before  his  death.] 


GRAND  DUKE  CONST  ANTINE.  161 

In  hoc  signo  vinces  (Conquer  by  this  sign). 

In  his  march  towards  Rome,  either  at  Aukin  in  Gaul,  or  near 
Andernach  on  the  Rhine,  he  is  said  to  have  seen  in  the  sky  the 
luminous  cross  surmounted  by  the  words  which  he  placed  upon 
the  Labarum,  or  standard  of  Rome,  over  the  monogram  of  Christ, 
after  his  defeat  of  Maxentius,  at  Saxa  Rubra,  near  Rome,  Oct. 
27,  312. 

Feeling  of  his  head,  when  urged  to  punish  the  Arians,  who 
had  broken  his  statues  because  he  would  not  declare  for  them, 
he  said,  "  I  feel  no  wound." 

GRAND  DUKE  C6NSTANTINE. 

[Second  son  of  the  Emperor  Paul  of  Russia;  born  at  St.  Petersburg, 
1779;  served  at  Austerlitz,  and  in  subsequent  campaigns;  governor 
of  Poland,  1814;  on  the  death  of  Alexander  I.,  renounced  his  right 
to  the  throne  in  favor  of  his  younger  brother  Nicholas;  viceroy  of 
Poland;  died  1831.] 

I  hate  war :  it  spoils  armies  (Je  deteste  la  guerre :  elle  gate 
les  armees). 

CHARLOTTE  CORDAY. 

[Marie  Anne  Charlotte  de  Corday  d'Armans,  born  in  Normandy, 
17G8,  was  a  descendant  of  Corneille;  adopted  the  principles  of  the 
Revolution,  and  sympathized  with  the  proscribed  Girondists;  having 
resolved  to  sacrifice  herself  by  the  death  of  Marat,  she  came  to 
Paris,  May,  1793,  and,  pretending  to  be  the  bearer  of  important 
information  from  the  provinces,  penetrated  to  his  chamber,  and 
stabbed  him  in  the  bath;  executed  the  following  July.] 

The  crime  makes  the  shame,  not  the  scaffold. 

In  a  letter  to  her  father  after  the  murder  of  Marat,  she  quoted 
a  line  of  her  ancestor  Thomas  Corneille  ("  Comte  d'Essex," 
IV.  3)  :  - 

"  C'est  le  crime  qtii  fait  la  honte,  et  non  pas  1'e'chafaud." 

As  in  her  mind  there  was  no  crime,  so  there  was  no  shame. 
Napoleon  once  said,  "  It  is  the  cause,  and  not  the  death,  that 
makes  the  martyr." 

That  Charlotte  Corday's  thoughts  were  early  given  to  the  con- 
dition of  France,  is  indicated  by  her  scornful  remark  to  some 


162  CORNELIA. 


inhabitants  of  Caen,  who  were  playing  cards  before  their  door : 
"You  play,  and  the  country  is  dying."  It  was  of  such  persons 
that  she  wrote  to  Barbaroux :  "  What  a  miserable  people  to 
found  a  republic  !  "  (Quel  triste  peuple  pour  fonder  une  rc'publique  /) 

She  bore  her  trial  with  the  utmost  composure.  "  I  have  killed 
one  man  to  save  a  hundred  thousand,"  she  declared  ;  "a  de- 
formed wretch,  to  save  the  innocent ;  a  ferocious  monster,  to 
procure  peace  to  my  country.  I  was  a  republican  before  the 
Revolution,  and  I  never  lacked  energy." 

Fouquier-Tinville,  the  public  prosecutor,  suggested  that  she 
must  have  practised  much  to  give  Marat  such  a  blow.  "  The 
monster !  "  she  exclaimed,  "  he  takes  me  for  an  assassin  !  " 

When  asked  by  her  judge  after  the  trial,  what  she  had  to  say : 
"Nothing,  but  that  I  have  succeeded."  In  reply  to  the  question 
if  she  thought  she  had  slain  all  the  Marats :  "Since  he  is  dead, 
perhaps  the  others  will  tremble." 

It  is  the  toilet  of  death,  but  it  leads  to  immortality. 

As  the  executioner  was  preparing  her  for  the  guillotine. 
"  She  destroys  us,"  said  Vergniaud,  alluding  to  her  sympathy  for 
Barbaroux  and  the  other  Girondists,  who  were  compromised  by 
her  act,  "  but  she  teaches  us  how  to  die  "  (Elle  nous  tue,  mais  elle 
nous  apprend  a  momir). 

CORNELIA. 

[A  Roman  matron,  eminent  for  her  virtues  and  mental  cultiva- 
tion; the  daughter  of  P.  Scipio  Africanus,  and  wife  of  T.  Sempro- 
nius  Gracchus. J 

These  are  my  jewels! 

To  a  Campanian  lady,  who,  on  a  visit  to  the  mother  of  the 
Gracchi,  displayed  her  jewels  somewhat  ostentatiously,  and 
wished  to  see  those  of  Cornelia ;  the  latter  turned  the  conversa- 
tion until  her  sons  had  returned  from  school,  and  then  presented 
them. 

"  Pointing  to  such,  well  might  Cornelia  say, 
When  the  rich  casket  shone  in  bright  array,  — 
'  These  are  my  jewels  ! '  " 

ROGERS:  Human  Life. 


MME.   DE   CORNUEL.  163 

Constantius,  the  father  of  Constantino  the  Great,  once  said, 
"  My  treasures  are  my  friends  ;  "  and  the  wife  of  Phocion,  when 
asked  where  her  jewels  were,  replied,  "  My  jewels  are  my  hus- 
band and  his  triumphs." 

MME.  DE  CORNUEL. 

[A  witty  Frenchwoman,  belonging  to  the  society  of  the  so-called 
Pre'cieuses  of  the  seventeenth  century:  her  mots  are  recorded  in  the 
correspondence  of  Mnie.  de  Sevigne,  and  the  memoirs  of  the  period; 
died  1094.] 

No  man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet  (II  n>y  a  pas  de  grand  homme 
pour  son  valet-de-chambre). 

Attributed  to  Mine,  de  Cornuel  by  Mile.  Aisse.  — Letters,  161 : 
Paris,  1853.  The  saying  is,  however,  common  to  many  authors 
and  heroes.  Thus  Montaigne  :  "  Few  men  are  admired  by  their 
servants  "  (Pen  d'homrnes  ont  e'ste  admirez  par  leurs  domestiques).  — 
Essays,  III.  2.  The  ordinary  meaning  given  to  the  mot  is,  that 
the  man  who  is  great  before  the  world  exhibits  his  weaknesses 
at  home ;  but  Goethe  founds  the  aphorism,  "  es  giebt,  sagt  man, 
fur  den  Kammerdiener  keinen  Helden"  upon  the  fact  that  only  a 
hero  can  appreciate  a  hero,  the  servant  being  unable  to  look 
above  his  equals.  —  Ottilien's  Diary:  Wahlverwandtschaften,  II.  5. 

Conde,  wearied  by  pompous  and  extravagant  eulogies,  sent 
their  authors  to  ask  the  opinion  of  his  valet  (Allez  le  demander 
a  mon  valet).  Marshal  Catinat  (1637-1712),  whose  modesty 
was  equal  to  his  bravery,  so  that  Sainte-Beuve  calls  him  "  a  hero 
in  spite  of  himself"  (le  he'ros  sans  de'sir),  and  of  whom  Louis 
XIV.  said  to  Pere  la  Chaise  and  Archbishop  Harlay,  on  seeing 
his  name  in  a  new  list  of  marshals,  "  Here  comes  virtue 
crowned!"  (C'est  bien  la  vertu  couronnee /),  used  an  expression 
which  maybe  the  original  of  all  such  French  mots:  "A  man 
must  be  indeed  a  hero  to  appear  such  in  the  eyes  of  his  valet " 
(Ilfaut  elre  bien  he'ros  pour  Vetre  aux  yeux  de  son  valet-de-chambre}. 
La  Bruyere  wrote  in  his  contemporaneous  "  Caracteres  :  "  "  The 
nearer  we  approach  great  men,  the  clearer  we  see  that  they  are 
men.  Rarely  do  they  appear  great  before  their  valets"  (Rare- 
ment  Us  sont  grands  vis-a-vis  de  leurs  valets-de-chambre).  All 
these  sayings  may,  however,  be  referred  to  Antigoiius  I.,  king  of 


164  COEKEGGIO. 


Sparta,  who,  when  Hermodotus  addressed  him  in  a  poem  as  son 
of  the  sun,  and  a  god,  replied,  "  My  valet-de-chambre  sings  me  no 
such  song."  —  PLUTARCH:  Apothegms,  and  Concerning  Isis  and 
Osiris,  chap.  24. 

Dr.  Johnson  once  observed,  "People  may  be  taken  in  once, 
who  imagine  that  an  author  is  greater  in  private  life  than  other 
men.  Uncommon  parts  require  uncommon  opportunities  for 
their  exertion."  —  BOSWELL  :  Life,  1763.  "All  celebrated  peo- 
ple," said  Napoleon,  "lose  on  a  close  view." 

I  saw   some   curious  things,   love  in  the  tomb   and 
ministers  in  the  cradle. 

Describing  a  visit  to  Versailles,  where  she  had  seen  the  aged 
Louis  XIV.  and  Mine,  de  Maintenon  surrounded  by  young  min- 
isters. 

She  called  the  eight  generals  who  were  appointed  to  take  the 
place  of  the  great  antagonist  of  Conde,  "  Turenne's  small 
change  "  (la  monnaie  de  M.  Turenne).  — Nouvelle  Biographic  Uni- 
verselle. 

Mine,  -de  Cornuel  was  asked  to  find  a  preceptor  for  a  friend's 
son :  such  a  list  of  necessary  qualities  was  given  that  she  finally 
said  in  despair,  "  I  have  sought  for  a  preceptor  for  you :  I  have 
not  found  him  ;  and,  if  I  do,  I  will  marry  him." 

Mine,  de  Saint-Loup  called  upon  her,  and  in  the  course  of  an 
hour  observed,  "  Madame,  I  was  deceived  in  being  told  that  you 
had  lost  your  wits  "  {que  vous  aviez  perdu  la  tete).  "  You  see," 
replied  Mine,  de  Cornuel,  "  how  impossible  it  is  to  believe  what 
you  hear :  now  I  was  told  that  you  had  found  yours "  (Vous  voyez 
le  fond  que  l'on  doit  faire  sur  les  nouvelles :  on  m' avail  dit,  a  moi, 
que  vous  aviez  retrouve  la  votre}. 


CORREGGIO. 

[Antonio  Allegri,  called  from  his  birthplace  "II  Correggio,"  an 
Italian  painter;  born  1494;  died  1534.] 

I,  too,  am  a  painter  (Anch'io  son  pittore). 

The  very  doubtful  saying  attributed  to  Correggio  on  seeing 
Raphael's  St.  Cecilia  at  Bologna.     Meyer,  in  his  "  Life  of  Cor- 


THOMAS   CRANMER.  165 

reggio,"  says,  that  at  the  time  when  the  artist  might  have  been  in 
Bologna,  namely,  in  his  youth,  the  Cecilia  was  not  there ;  equally 
improbable  is  it  that  he  was  ever  in  Rome,  where  the  exclama- 
tion is  said  by  some  to  have  been  called  forth  by  the  frescos  in 
the  Vatican.  The  story  may  have  originated  in  the  similarity 
of  a  figure  in  Correggio's  St.  Martha  to  the  St.  Paul  of  the 
Cecilia.  Grimm,  in  his  "  Life  of  Michael  Angelo,"  denies  that 
Correggio  ever  saw  Florence  or  Rome. 

THOMAS  CRANMER. 

[Archbishop  of  Canterbury;  born  in  Notts,  1489;  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge; chaplain  to  Henry  VIII.,  who  sent  him  to  Rome  to  procure 
the  divorce  from  Catherine;  archbishop,  1533,  and  the  king's  prin- 
cipal adviser;  of  the  Regency  during  the  minority  of  Edward  VI.;  at 
the  head  of  the  commission  which  produced  the  English  Liturgy; 
prosecuted  for  heresy,  and  excommunicated  under  Queen  Mary; 
burned  at  the  stake,  1556.] 

This  hand  hath  offended,  —  this  unworthy  hand. 

Putting  into  the  fire  his  right  hand,  which  had  previously  sub- 
scribed to  the  doctrines  of  papal  supremacy  and  the  real 
presence. 

CHIEF  JUSTICE  CUE  WE. 

[Sir  Randolf  Crewe,  an  English  judge;  born  1588;  entered  Parlia- 
ment, and  elected  speaker,  1614;  chief-justice  of  the  king's  bench, 
1625;  dismissed  the  next  year;  died  1646.] 

Where  is  Bohun?    "Where  is  Mowbray? 

On  the  death  of  Henry  de  Vere,  eighteenth  Earl  of  Oxford,  in 
1626,  a  contest  arose  between  Robert  de  Vere  claiming  as  heir 
male  of  the  family,  and  Lord  Willoughby  d'Eresby,  claiming 
through  a  female,  as  heir-general  to  the  late  earl.  The  case, 
known  as  the  Oxford  Peerage  Case,  was  referred  by  Charles  I. 
to  the  House  of  Lords,  who  called  in  the  judges  to  their  assist- 
ance., The  following  magnificent  burst  of  judicial  eloquence 
occurs  in  the  opinion  of  the  lord  chief-justice  :  "I  have  labored 
to  make  a  covenant  with  myself,  that  affection  may  not  press 
upon  judgment;  for  I  suppose  there  is  no  man  that  hath  any 


166  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

apprehension  of  gentry  or  nobleness,  but  his  affection  stands  to 
the  continuance  of  a  house  so  illustrious,  and  would  take  hold  of 
a  twig  or  twine-thread  to  support  it.  And  yet  time  hath  his 
revolutions ;  there  must  be  a  period  and  an  end  to  all  temporal 
things — finis  rerum  —  an  end  of  names  and  dignities,  and  what- 
soever is  terrene ;  and  why  not  of  de  Vere  ?  For  where  is 
Bohun?  Where  is  Mowbray?  Where  is  Mortimer?  Nay, 
which  is  more,  and  most  of  all,  where  is  Plantagenet?  They 
are  entombed  in  the  urns  and  sepulchres  of  mortality !  yet  let 
the  name  of  de  Vere  stand  so  long  as  it  pleaseth  God." 

Judgment  was  given  for  Robert  de  Vere ;  but,  as  he  died 
without  an  heir  male,  his  name  wTas  entombed  with  the  others, 
until  the  title  was  called  out  of  abeyance  by  Queen  Anne,  in 
favor  of  Robert  Harley,  claiming  through  a  female. 

OLIVER   CROMWELL. 

[Born  at  Himtington,  England,  April  25, 1599;  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge; entered  Parliament,  1628:  joined  the  Parliamentary  army  as 
captain  of  cavalry;  commanded  the  left  wing  at  Marston  Moor,  and 
the  right  at  Naseby ;  member  of  the  court  wrhich  tried  Charles  I. ;  lord- 
lieutenant  of  Ireland;  defeated  the  royalists  at  Drogheda,  at  Dunbar 
in  Scotland  1650,  at  Worcester  1651;  Protector  of  the  Commonwealth, 
1654;  died  Sept.  3,  1658.] 

Put  your  trust  in  God,  but  be  sure  to  see  that  your 
powder  is  dry. 

His  advice  to  his  troops  when  about  to  cross  a  river. 

He  declared  to  Falkland,  in  1641,  that,  had  the  House  of  Com- 
mons not  passed  the  remonstrance  on  the  state  of  the  kingdom, 
"1  should  have  sold  all  I  possess,  and  left  the  kingdom."  From 
this  may  have  originated  the  story  that  Hampden  and  Cromwell 
had  at  one  time  determined  to  emigrate  to  America. 

When  some  one  spoke  of  Cromwell's  slovenly  appearance, 
Hampden  replied,  "  If  ever  we  should  come  to  a  breach  with  the 
king  (which  God  forbid !),  in  such  a  case,  I  say,  that  sloven  will 
be  the  greatest  man  in  England."  Sir  Philip  Warwick  wrote  in 
his  diary,  as  quoted  by  Carlyle,  that  he  came  into  the  House  one 
morning,  "  and  perceived  a  gentleman  speaking,  whom  I  knew 
not,  —  very  ordinarily  apparelled ;  for  it  was  a  plain  cloth  suit, 


OLIVER  CROMWELL.  167 

which  seemed  to  have  been  made  by  an  ill  country  tailor ;  his 
linen  was  plain,  and  not  very  clean ;  and  I  remember  a  speck  or 
two  of  blood  upon  his  little  band,  which  was  not  much  larger 
than  his  collar.  His  hat  was  without  a  hat-band."  —  Cromwell's 
Letters  and  Speeches,  I.  1,  1641. 

"  Having  the  king  in  my  hands,''  Cromwell  declared  in  1647, 
"I  have  the  Parliament  in  my  pockets."  He  may  have  said,  as 
asserted,  "If  I  met  the  king  in  battle,  I  would  fire  my  pistol , 
at  the  king  as  at  another ;  "  for  when  Algernon  Sidney  refused 
to  be  one  of  the  king's  judges  in  1648,  Cromwell  declared,  "  We 
will  cut  off  his  head  with  the  crown  on  it." 

A  crowning  mercy. 

f 

In  his  despatch  of  Sept.  4,  1651,  announcing  the  victory  of 
Worcester  the  day  before,  he  said,  "  The  dimensions  of  this 
mercy  are  above  my  thoughts.  It  is,  for  aught  I  know,  a  crown- 
ing mercy." 

To  some  one  who  remarked  upon  the  crowd  which  poured  out 
to  meet  him  on  his  return  from  the  campaign  in  Ireland  to 
London,  May  31,  1650,  Cromwell  grimly  replied,  "Yes;  but  if  it 
were  to  see  me  hanged,  how  many  would  there  be  !  "  A  similar 
thought  struck  Henry  IV.  of  France,  when  the  people  cheered 
him  after  the  attempt  of  Chatel  upon  his  life,  in  the  early  part 
of  his  reign;  and  William  III.  of  England,  predicting  the  reflux 
of  the  great  wave  of  enthusiasm  which  bore  him  to  the  throne 
in  1688,  said,  "  Here  the  cry  is  all  '  Hosanna '  to-day,  and  will, 
perhaps,  be  'Crucify  him'  to-morrow.'  Napoleon  replied  to 
some  one  who  noticed  the  applause  which  greeted  him  in  Switz- 
erland, "The  same  unthinking  crowd,  under  a  slight  change  of 
circumstances,  would  follow  me  just  as  eagerly  to  the  scaffold." 

Cromwell  assured  a  judge  who  hesitated  to  serve  under  him 
when  Protector,  "  If  I  cannot  rule  by  red  gowns,  I  will  by  red 
coats ; "  and  he  asserted,  when  the  Independents  demanded  the 
abolition  of  titles,  "There  will  never  be  a  good  time  in  England 
till  we  have  done  with  lords."  He  accordingly  assured  the  Earl 
of  Manchester,  the  Parliamentary  general,  that  "he  must  in  such 
case  be  content  to  be  no  more  than  plain  Montague,"  his  family 
name. 


168  OLIVER  CROMWELL. 

I  have  sought  the  Lord  night  and  day,  that  he  would 
rather  slay  me  than  put  me  upon  the  doing  of  this 
work. 

Of  the  dissolution  of  the  Long  Parliament,  April  20,  1653. 
On  that  day  Cromwell  entered  the  House  of  Commons,  contain- 
ing about  fifty  members,  and  sat  in  an  ordinary  place.  After 
taking  part  in  the  debate,  he  began  telling  the  members  of  their 
injustice,  delays  of  justice,  self-interest,  and  other  faults,  until, 
stamping  with  his  foot,  he  exclaimed,  "You  shall  now  give  place 
to  better  men  ! ''  "  You  are  no  Parliament !  I  say  you  are  no 
Parliament !  "  Having  called  in  twenty  or  thirty  musketeers, 
he  turned  out  the  members  with,  "  In  the  name  of  God,  go ! " 
History  recalls  with  a  shudder,  says  Carlyle,  u  that  my  Lord 
General,  lifting  the  sacred  mace  itself,  said,  '  What  shall  we  do 
with  this  bauble?  Take  it  away! ' "  Calling  Sir  Harry  Vane  by 
name,  Cromwell  told  him  that  lie  might  have  prevented  this; 
but  that  he  was  a  juggler,  and  had  not  common  honesty.  "  The 
Lord  deliver  me  from  thee,  Sir  Harry  Vane  !  "  All  being  gone 
out,  the  door  of  the  House  was  locked.  The  Rump  Parliament 
had  gone  its  ways.  "  They  went,"  says  Carlyle,  "  very  softly,  — 
softly  as  a  dream,  say  all  witnesses.  '  We  did  not  hear  a  dog 
bark  at  their  going,'  asserts  my  Lord  General,  elsewhere."  — 
Cromwell,  II.  7. 

Cromwell's  language  on  this  occasion  finds  its  only  parallel  in 
the  remarkably  frank  expressions  of  Prince  Bismarck,  in  discuss- 
ing the  emperor's  rescript  in  the  German  Reichstag,  Jan.  2-4, 
1882.  Replying  to  a  charge  of  cowardice,  which,  he  said,  was 
implied  in  the  accusation  that  he  shielded  himself  behind  the 
emperor's  name,  he  added,  "  It  is  only  a  feeling  of  loyalty  that 
keeps  me  in  my  place :  were  the  king  mercifully  to  release  me 
to-day,  it  would  heartily  delight  me  to  bid  you  farewell,  and  see 
no  more  of  you"  (icenn  icli  im  Dienste  des  Koniys  niclit  ware,  und 
icenn  mich  der  Konig  lieute  in  Gnaden  entlassen  iciirde,  so  icurde 
ich  von  Ihnen,  meine  Herren,  mil  Vergnugen  und  auf  Nimmer- 
wiedersehen,  Abschied  nelimen). 

And  let  God  be  judge  between  you  and  me. 

Dissolving  the  Second  Parliament  of  the  Protectorate,  Feb.  4, 
1658.  He  replied  to  the  offer  of  the  title  of  king  in  that  year, 


BISHOP  CUMBERLAND.  1C9 

"  Ro}Talty  is  but  a  feather  in  a  man's  cap :  let  children  enjoy  ' 
their  rattle." 

He  promoted  the  influence  of  England  by  a  vigorous  foreign 
policy,  and  protected  her  commerce  in  the  Mediterranean.  "  By 
such  means  as  these,"  he  said,  "we  shall  make  the  name  of 
Englishman  as  great  as  that  of  Roman  was  in  Rome's  most  palmy 
daj^s."  lie  approved  of  the  haughty  behavior  of  an  English 
admiral  at  Lisbon,  and  declared,  "  I  would  have  the  English 
republic  as  much  respected  as  ever  the  Roman  commonwealth 
was."  He  also  expressed  the  opinion  concerning  England's  com- 
mercial interests,  that  "a  man-of-war  is  the  best  ambassador." 

''The  mighty  things  done  among  us,"  he  once  said,  "are  the 
revolutions  of  Christ  himself :  to  deny  this  is  to  speak  against 
God." 

No  man  ever  climbs  so  high  as  when  he  knows  not 
whither  he  is  going. 

Paint  me  as  I  am. 

The  shortened  form  of  Cromwell's  injunction  to  the  young 
Peter  Lely,  who  was  painting  his  portrait :  "  I  desire  you  will 
use  all  your  skill  to  paint  my  picture  truly  like  me,  and  not  to 
natter  me  at  all;  but  remark  all  those  roughnesses,  pimples, 
warts,  and  every  thing  as  you  see  me :  otherwise  I  will  never 
pay  one  farthing  for  it." 

BISHOP  CUMBERLAND. 

[Richard  Cumberland,  born  in  London,  1632;  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge; Bishop  of  Peterborough,  1G91;  died  1718.] 

It  is  better  to  wear  out  than  to  rust  out. 

In  reply  to  some  one  who  warned  him  that  he  would  wear 
himself  out  with  his  incessant  application.  Lacordaire  said, 
"It  is  better  to  suffer  than  to  decay." 

JOHN  PIIILPOT  CURRAN. 

[An  Irish  orator  and  barrister,  born  near  Cork,  1750;  educated  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin;  called  to  the  Irish  bar,  1775,  and  gained  a 
large  practice;  entered  Parliament,  1783;  counsel  for  the  Irish  rebels 
of  1798;  master  of  the  rolls  in  Ireland,  1800;  died  Oct.  14,  1817.] 


170  JOHX  PHILPOT   CUKKAN". 

When  I  can't  talk  sense,  I  talk  metaphor. 

MOORE  :  Life  of  Sheridan,  II.  29,  note. 

He  said  of  the  speech  of  a  certain  member  of  Parliament, 
"It  was  like  a  long  parenthesis,  because  that  is  a  paragraph 
which  may  be  omitted  from  beginning  to  end  without  any  loss 
of  meaning ;  "  and  of  the  speech  of  one  Hewett,  ' k  It  put  me 
exactly  in  mind  of  a  familiar  utensil  called  an  extinguisher: 
it  began  at  a  point,  and  on  it  went  widening  and  widening, 
until  at  last  it  fairly  put  out  the  subject  altogether." 

When  asked  what  he  thought  of  a  certain  speech  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  —  "  made  by  an  able  speaker,"  says  Jennings, 
"but  addicted  to  lofty  language,"  —  he  replied,  "  I  had  only  the 
advantage  of  hearing  Lord airing  his  vocabulary." 

His  answer  to  the  prosy  member  who  asked  him  if  he  had 
read  his  last  speech,  was  brief :  "  I  hope  I  have ; "  and  to  the 
poet  who  wished  to  know  if  Curran  had  seen  his  "  Descent  into 
Hell : "  "  No,  but  I  should  be  delighted  to  see  it." 

In  this  case  I  rather  think  your  lordship  takes  the 
will  for  the  deed. 

When  a  judge  in  a  will-case  remarked  that  it  was  clear  the 
testator  intended  to  keep  a  ///e-interest  in  the  estate  to  himself. 

A  judge  was  interrupted  in  his  charge  by  the  braying  of  a 
donkey.  "  May  it  please  your  honor,  it  is  "only  an  echo  !  "  sug- 
gested Curran. 

On  one  occasion  Lord  Clare  was  observed  caressing  a  New- 
foundland dog  during  Curran 's  argument.  Counsel  stopped, 
and,  on  the  judge  motioning  him  to  proceed,  observed,  "I  beg 
ten  thousand  pardons.  I  thought  your  lordship  was  in  con- 
sultation." 

He  said  to  a  judge  who  threatened  to  commit  him  for  con- 
tempt of  court,  "  If  your  lordship  commit  me,  we  shall  both 
have  the  consolation  of  reflecting  that  I  am  not  the  worst  thing 
your  lordship  has  committed." 

Lord  Clare  once  said,  that  if  one  of  Curran's  positions  were 
law,  he  would  go  home  and  burn  his  law-books.  "  Better  read 
them,  my  lord,"  was  the  retort.  This*is  also  told  of  Dunning, 
first  Lord  Ashburton,  in  reply  to  Mansfield. 


JOHN  PHILPOT  CURRAN.  171 

He  reminds  me  of  a  fool  I  once  saw  trying  to  open 
an  oyster  with  a  rolling-pin. 

Of  the  elaborate  but  confused  exposition  of  a  point  of  law 
given  by  a  learned  Serjeant. 

Curran  was  once  engaged  in  a  legal  argument;  and  behind 
him  stood  his  colleague,  a  gentleman  whose  person  was  remark- 
ably tall  and  slender,  and  who  had  originally  designed  to  take 
orders.  The  judge  observing  that  the  case  involved  a  question 
of  ecclesiastical  law,  Curran  said,  "  I  can  refer  your  lordship  to 
a  high  authority  behind  me,  who  was  once  intended  for  the 
Church ;  though  [in  a  whisper  to  a  friend  beside  him],  in  my 
opinion,  he  was  fitter  for  the  steeple." 

A  judge,  whose  wig  was  a  little  awry,  asked  Curran  if  he 
saw  any  thing  ridiculous  in  it.  "Nothing  but  the  head,  my 
lord,"  was  his  reply. 

He  was  told  that  he  would  lose  his  gown  for  defending  the 
rebels  of  1798.  "  His  majesty  may  take  the  silk,"  said  Curran, 
"  but  he  must  leave  the  stuff  behind."  A  barrister  changes  his 
stuff  gown  for  a  silk  one  on  being  made  king's  counsel. 

My  dear  Dick,  you  don't  know  how  puzzled  we  all  are 
to  know  where  you  buy  your  dirty  shirts. 

To  counsellor  Rudd  of  the  Irish  bar,  who  was  remarkable  for 
his  love  of  whist  and  his  dirty  linen. 

Curran  was  asked  what  an  Irish  gentleman  just  arrived  in 
England  could  mean  by  continually  putting  out  his  tongue  :  "I 
suppose  he  is  trying  to  catch  the  English  accent,"  he  replied. 

Being  told  that  a  miserly  man  had  gone  from  Cork  to  Dublin 
with  but  one  shirt  and  a  guinea :  "  Ten  to  one,"  said  Curran, 
"  that  he  changes  neither  until  he  returns." 

He  refused  to  give  a  politician  a  list  of  Irish  grievances, 
saying,  "  At  my  time  of  life,  I  have  no  notion  of  turning  hod- 
man to  any  political  architect." 

Having  been  annoyed  by  fleas,  he  said  to  his  landlady,  "If 
they  had  been  unanimous,  and  all  pulled  one  way,  they  must 
have  pulled  me  out  of  bed  entirely." 

He  saw  a  broken  pane  of  glass  in  an  obscure  alley  of  Dublin, 
patched  by  a  page  of  a  very  dull  book.  "  This  is  the  first 


172  DAXTON. 


time,"  said  he,  "that  the  author  has  thrown  light  upon  any 
subject." 

The  motto  he  gave  Lundyfoot,  the  rich  tobacconist,  who  was 
setting  up  his  carriage,  is  well  known:  "  Quid  rides?"  —  From 
HORACE  :  Satires,  I.  69. 

In  his  last  illness,  when  his  physician  said  he  seemed  to  cough 
•with  more  difficulty  :  "  That's  rather  surprising,"  replied  Curran, 
"as  I  have  been  practising  all  night." 

DANTON. 

[Georges  Jacques  Danton,  called  the  "  Mirabeau  of  the  Sans- 
Culottes,"  born  at  Arcis-sur-Aube,  France,  1759;  founded  the  revolu- 
tionary club  of  the  Cordeliers;  directed  the  insurrection  of  Aug.  10, 
1792;  shared  supreme  power  with  Marat  and  Robespierre,  and  be- 
came minister  of  justice;  arranged  the  massacre  of  the  imprisoned 
royalists,  September,  1792;  member  of  the  committee  of  public  safety; 
arrested  after  a  struggle  with  Robespierre,  March,  1791;  and  guillo- 
tined April  5.] 

De  2'audace,  encore  de  2'audace,  et  toujours  de  1'au- 
dace! 

After  the  insurrection  of  August,  1792,  which  in  fact  sub- 
verted the  monarchy,  the  manifesto  of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick, 
appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  allied  armies  of  Austria 
and  Prussia,  in  which  he  called  upon  Europe  to  place  Louis 
XVI.  securely  on  his  throne,  aroused  France  to  a  sense  of 
danger.  The  revolutionary  army  under  Dumouriez  suffered  a 
momentary  check  by  the  capture  of  Longwy  and  the  siege 
of  Verdun.  In  revenge  for  the  interference  of  foreign  powers, 
and  to  show  the  earnest  purpose  of  the  revolutionists,  Danton 
determined  upon  the  massacre  of  the  royalists,  who  crowded  the 
prisons  of  Paris.  While  the  tocsin  was  being  struck  and  the 
discharge  of  cannon  gave  the  signal  of  slaughter,  the  "  tribune 
of  the  people  "  shouted  to  the  dismayed  deputies  of  the  Xational 
Assembly,  "  This  is  a  moment  to  decree  that  the  capital  has 
deserved  well  of  France.  The  cannon  which  you  hear  is  not  the 

«/ 

signal  of  alarm :  it  is  the  pas  de  charge  upon  our  enemies.  To 
conquer  them,  to  crush  them  to  earth,  what  is  necessary?  We 
must  dare,  and  still  dare,  and  forever  dare,  and  France  is 
saved"  (JPour  les  vaincre,  pour  les  atterer,  quefaut-ilf  de  I'audace, 


DANTOX.  173 


encore  de  Vaudace,  et  toujours  de  Vaudace,  el  la  France  est  sauve'e). 
The  "  Moniteur  "  omitted  the  last  words  from  the  report.  "  Old 
men  who  heard  it  will  still  tell  you  how  the  reverberating  voice 
made  all  hearts-swell  in  that  moment,  and  thrilled  abroad  over 
France,  like  electric  virtue,  as  words  spoken  in  season."  —  CAR- 
LYLE  :  French  Revolution,  II.  3,  4. 

"  And  as  she  lookt  about  she  did  behold 
How  over  that  same  dore  was  likewise  writ 
Be  bolde,  Be  bolde,  and  everywhere,  Be  bold." 

SPENSER:  Faerie  Queene,  III.  11,  54. 

Danton  was  anticipated  in  the  form  of  his  exclamation  by 
the  Marshal  de  Trivulce  (1441-1518),  who  replied  to  the  ques- 
tion of  Louis  XL,  what  he  needed  to  make  war,  "  Three  things, 
—  money,  more  money,  always  money"  (Trois  choses,  de  V argent, 
encore  de  V  argent,  et  toujours  de  far  gent) ;  which  the  imperialist 
general  von  Schwendi  echoed  fifty  years  afterwards,  "  Sind  drei- 
erlei  Dinge  noting  :  Geld,  Geld,  Geld."  All  are,  however,  to  be  re- 
ferred to  Demosthenes,  who,  when  asked  what  three  things  made 
the  perfect  orator,  answered,  "Action;"  and  the  second  thing? 
"  Action  ;  "  and  the  third  thing  ?  "Action."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Lives 
of  the  Ten  Orators. 

St.  Just,  who  succeeded  Danton  in  the  Reign  of  Terror,  re- 
iterated the  assertion  of  his  predecessor,  when  he  exclaimed  in 
the  Convention,  "  Dare  !  that  is  the  whole  secret  of  revolutions ;  " 
and  Gambetta  marked  the  difference  between  the  eighteenth 
and  the  nineteenth  centuries,  by  announcing  at  the  banquet  on 
the  birthday  of  Gen.  Hoche,  at  Versailles,  June  24,  1872,  the 
formula  of  the  third  republic,  "  We  must  work,  and  still  work, 
and  forever  work ! "  (du  travail,  encore  du  travail,  et  toujours  du 
travail .') 

Some  one,  even  more  bloodthirsty  than  Danton,  asked  him 
if  the  members  of  the  "  Right,"  meaning  the  ro}ralist  deputies, 
were  not  to  be  included  in  the  massacre  of  September ;  to  which 
he  replied,  "  Everybody  knows  that  I  do  not  shrink  from  a  crim- 
inal act  when  it  is  necessary,  but  I  dis-dain  to  commit  a  useless 
one."  And  later,  when  common  friends,  fearing  the  results  of  a 
quarrel  between  them,  brought  Robespierre  and  Dauton  together, 
the  latter  repeated  his  opinion:  "We  should  not  strike  except 


174  DANTON. 


where  it  is  useful  to  the  republic :  \ve  should  not  confound  the 
innocent  and  the  guilty."  —  "  And  who  told  you,"  replied  Robes- 
pierre with  a  poisonous  look,  "  that  one  innocent  person  had 
perished  ?  "  —  CARLYLE  :  II.  8,  2.  Danton's  fate  was  sealed 
from  that  moment. 

I  have  been  carried  into  the  ministry  by  a  cannon-ball. 

Because,  after  the  insurrection  of  August,  1792,  Danton  be- 
came minister  of  justice.  What  his  relations  with  the  court 
party  were  from  this  time,  has  never  been  fully  known.  He  may 
have  dreamed  of  playing  the  rule  of  Mir^ibeau.  At  any  rate,  he 
declared,  "  I  shall  save  the  king,  or  kill  him,"  and  was  even 
bolder  in  his  club  of  the  Cordeliers :  "  I  do  not  love  the  blood 
of  vanquished  kings:  address  yourselves  to  Marat."  lie  fore- 
saw that  the  Revolution  would  not  cause  a  permanent  displace- 
ment of  power ;  and  said  in  1792  to  the  young  Due  de  Chartres, 
son  of  the  Due  d'Orleans  (Egalite),  "  After  our  storms  France 
will  return  to  it  [the  monarchy],  and  you  will  be  king.  Adieu, 
young  man,  and  remember  the  prediction  of  Danton."  —  TAINE  : 
French  Revolution,  II.  Bk.  IV.  chap.  9.  The  young  man  became 
Louis  Philippe  I.  Danton's  motto  at  this  time,  addressed  to  the 
Cordeliers,  was,  "Nations  save,  but  do  not  revenge  themselves." 

Let  us  be  terrible  to  prevent  the  people  from  becom- 
ing so. 

Calling  for  the  re-organization  of  the  revolutionary  tribunal, 
in  1793.  He  spoke  of  the  actions  of  the  Jacobins,  but  his  own 
person  was  no  less  terrible.  "  Nature  has  given  me,"  he  said, 
"the  athletic  form  and  the  harsh  expression  of  liberty"  (les 
forces  athletiques  et  la  physiognomic  apre  de  la  liberle).  Of  gigantic 
stature,  large  head,  a  bull-dog's  face  marked  with  the  small-pox, 
an  eye  of  fire,  and  a  voice  which  was  compared  to  thunder  and 
a  lion's  roar,  he  realized  the  popular  idea  of  a  revolutionist, 
whose  terrific  images  frightened  those  he  could  not  persuade. 
He  was  pleased  with  the  comparison  of  himself  to  Mirabeau, 
whose  relations  with  the  court,  as  well  as  his  physical  and  ora- 
torical traits,  bore  some  resemblance  to  his  own.  With  a 
solemnity  of  egotism,  justified  perhaps  by  the  weak  men  around 


DANTON.  175 


him  who  attempted  to  play  great  roles,  he  declared  that  "  Nature 
has  cast  but  two  men  in  the  mould  of  statesmen, --myself  and 
Mirabeau.  After  that  she  broke  the  mould."  He  applied  to 
himself,  however,  a  common  expression,  especially  in  poetic 
literature  :  thus  Byron,  — 

"  Sighing  that  Nature  formed  hut  one  such  man, 
And  broke  the  die,  —  in  moulding  Sheridan." 

Whither  fly?  If  freed  France  cast  me  out,  there  are 
only  dungeons  for  me  elsewhere.  One  carries  not 
his  country  on  the  sole  of  his  shoe  (On  n'emporte  pas  la 
patrle  a  la  semelle  des  souliers). 

When  his  relations  with  Robespierre  had  become  so  strained 
that  he  was  advised  to  fly.  Danton  claimed  to  be  tired  of  blood  ; 
having  called  himself  "drunk  with  men"  (soul  des  homines'),  he 
declared  that  he  would  "  rather  be  guillotined,  than  become  guil- 
lotiner."  He  compared  the  Revolution  to  a  great  lawsuit,  "which 
not  often  enriched  him  who  gained  it,  while  it  ruined  him  who 
lost  it."  He  nevertheless  thought  it  necessary  to  proclaim  his 
republicanism  :  to  disarm  suspicion  he  cried,  "  I,  too,  am  a  repub- 
lican, an  imperishable  republican"  (im  re'publicain  imperissable), 
applying  to  himself  one  of  the  attributes  of  the  Revolution. 
But  the  fortitude  of  his  victims  dismayed  him.  "When  they  go 
smiling  to  the  scaffold,"  he  said,  "it  is  time  to  break  in  pieces 
the  sickle  of  death."  He  referred  particularly  to  the  Girondists, 
of  whom  he  had  but  a  slight  opinion.  From  their  constant 
comparison  of  themselves  to  the  countrymen  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius,  he  called  them  "Romans  without  a  country "(depayse's). 
He  likened  their  republic  to  "  the  romance  of  a  pretty  woman," 
such  as  Charlotte  Corday,  or  Madame  Roland,  the  beautiful 
friend  of  the  Brissotines  ;  and,  hitting  off  their  habit  of  eloquent 
generalizations,  he  accused  them  of  "intoxicating  themselves 
with  words,  while  the  people  are  intoxicating  themselves  with 
blood."  He  saw  by  how  delicate  a  thread  he  clung  to  power: 
"  As  long  as  they  talk  of  Robespierre  and  Danton,  very  well : 
beware  when  they  talk  about  Danton  and  Robespierre;  "  when, 
in  other  words,  the  jealousy  of  the  "  green-eyed  Incorruptible  " 
is  aroused.  But  he  hoped  that  history  would  throw  a  mild  light 
even  over  himself :  "  The  sweet  consolation  is  left  me,  that  the 


176  DANTON. 


man  who  perished  as  chief  of  the  faction  of  the  Merciful  (chefde 
la  faction  des  Indulgents)  will  find  grace  in  the  eyes  of  posterity. 


•  i 


At  last   I   perceive  that  in  revolutions  the   supreme 
power  finally  rests  with  the  most  abandoned. 

When  the  critical  moment  came,  Danton's  decision  failed  him. 
He  might  have  crushed  Robespierre  :  he  was  crushed  by  him. 
To  his  friends  he  said  on  his  arrest,  "I  leave  the  whole  business 
in  a  frightful  welter  (un  gacliis  epouvantalle) :  not  one  of  them 
understands  any  thing  of  government.  Robespierre  will  follow 
me  :  I  drag  down  Robespierre.  Oh  !  it  Mrere  better  to  be  a  poor 
fisherman,  than  to  meddle  with  the  government  of  men."  — 
CAHLYLE  :  French  Revolution. 

Asked  at  his  trial  his  name  and  place  of  abode,  he  replied, 
"  My  name  is  Dan  ton,  —  a  name  tolerably  well  known  in  the 
Revolution ;  my  abode  will  soon  be  in  annihilation  (dans  le 
neanC),  but  I  shall  live  in  the  pantheon  of  history."  He  referred 
to  the  church  of  Ste.  Genevieve,  now  called  the  Pantheon,  which, 
after  the  death  of  Mirabeau,  had  been  dedicated  to  the  heroes 
of  a  grateful  country,  with  this  inscription  around  the  dome  : 
"  Aux  grands  homines  la  patrie  reconnaissance." 

His  trial  was  a  mockery :  his  evidence  was  refused  admission ; 
while  his  defence  consisted  of  ejaculations.  "  Men  of  my  tem- 
per," he  cried,  "  are  beyond  price.  It  is  upon  their  foreheads 
that  the  seal  of  liberty,  and  the  republican  genius,  are  inefface- 
ably  stamped."  When  the  president  rang  his  bell  for  order, 
Danton  asked  :  "  What  is  it  to  thee  how  I  defend  myself?  The 
right  of  dooming  me  is  thine  always  (Le  droit  de  me  damner  te 
reste  toujours) ;  the  voice  of  a  man  speaking  for  his  honor  and 
life  may  well  drown  the  jingling  of  thy  bell !  "  Condemned  to 
die,  April  5,  1794,  he  consoled  himself  with  the  noise  he  had 
already  made  upon  earth.  "  I  have  tasted  well  of  life  :  let  us  go 
to  sleep !  To-morrow  I  hope  to  rest  in  the  bosom  of  glory ! ' 
His  courage  did  not  yet  leave  him.  "  They  are  sending  me  to 
the  scaffold  :  well,  my  friends,  we  must  go  to  it  gayly !  '  As  he 
passed  Robespierre's  house  in  the  executioner's  cart,  he  shouted 
to  his  victorious  rival,  "  You  will  appear  in  this  cart  in  your 
turn,  Robespierre ;  and  the  soul  of  Danton  will  howl  with  joy  !  " 
Of  the  cries  of  the  multitude  he  said  with  characteristic  egotism, 


JEANNE  DARC.  177 


"  The  idiots  !  they  cry  '  Long  live  the  republic  ! '  and  in  half  an 
hour  the  republic  will  be  without  a  head  !  "  "  When  Paris  shall 
perish,"  he  had  once  remarked,  "  there  will  no  longer  be  a 
republic."  His  friend  Herault  de  Sechelles  shared  his  fate;  and 
Dantoii  rebuked  the  inhumanity  of  the  executioner,  who  refused 
them  a  last  embrace :  "  Fool !  not  to  see  that  in  a  few  seconds 
our  heads  must  meet  in  that  basket !  "  For  a  moment  his  de- 
meanor did  not  seem  to  Herault  to  be  worthy  of  him.  He 
was  thinking  of  his  wife:  "Must  I  leave  thee,  my  beloved? 
(Oh,  ma  bien-aime'e!  faut-il  que  j'e  te  quitte?)  But,"  interrupting 
himself,  "Danton,  no  weakness  ! "  (Point  de  faibiesse  /)  His  last 
words  were  to  the  executioner  :  "  Do  not  forget  to  show  my  head 
to  the  mob :  they  have  not  often  seen  one  like  it!"  "He  had 
many  sins,"  says  Carlyle,  "  but  one  worst  sin  he  had  not,  —  that 
of  cant.  He  saved  France  from  Brunswick :  he  walked  straight 
his  own  wild  road,  whither  it  led  him." 

One  of  his  expressions  was  used  by  Napoleon  :  "  I  have  made 
noise  enough  in  the  world  already."  —  O 'ME AHA:  Napolem  in 
Exile,  1816. 

JEANNE  DARC. 

[The  celebrated  French  heroine,  commonly  but  erroneously  called 
Joan  of  Arc.  Michelet  describes  her  as  the  third  daughter  of  a 
laborer,  Jacques  Dare;  and  Henri  Martin  follows  "Les  nouvelles  Re- 
cherches  sur  la  Fainille  et  le  Nom  de  Jeanne  Dare  "  by  Vireville,  and 
the  custom  of  writers  before  the  sixteenth  century,  by  returning  to 
the  ancient  name  of  Dare;  born  about  1411;  burned  to  death  at  Kou- 
en,  May  31,  1431.1 

My  brothers  of  paradise  tell  me  to  go. 

Jeanne  Dare  imbibed  from  infancy  the  principles  of  the 
Orleanists,  or  supporters  of  Charles  VII.,  against  the  English 
and  the  Burgundians,  near  the  latter  of  whom  her  birthplace, 
Domremy  in  Lorraine,  was  situated.  From  her  thirteenth  year 
she  claimed  to  hear  voices  calling  upon  her  to  save  France  ;  until 
in  February,  1429,  she  left  home,  in  obedience  to  the  heavenly 
voices,  and  presented  herself  with  a  small  guard  before  the  king, 
or  the  dauphin  as  she  called  him  previous  to  his  coronation.  Con- 
vinced of  her  sincerity,  Charles  gave  her  a  force,  with  which  she 


178  JACQUES  DAVID. 


entered  Orleans,  the  siege  of  which  she  compelled  the  English 
to  raise.  After  gaining  several  battles,  and  acquiring  many 
cities  to  the  French  cause,  she  accompanied  the  king  to  Rheims, 
where  he  was  crowned.  The  following  spring  she  was  captured, 
and  handed  over  by  the  Burgundians  to  the  English  for  trial  as 
a  sorceress.  When  asked  by  her  judges  why  she  bore  her  banner 
by  the  side  of  the  king's  at  Rheims,  she  replied,  "  It  shared  the 
pain,  reason  enough  that  it  should  partake  of  the  honor"  (II 
avoit  cste  a  la  peine,  c'estoit  bien  raison  qu'il  fast  a  Vhonneur)." 
Being  asked  if  she  knew  what  it  was  to  be  in  a  state  of  grace, 
she  said,  "  If  I  am  not  in  it,  may  God  put  me  in  it ;  and  if  I  am 
in  it,  may  God  keep  me  in  it !  "  (Si  je  n'y  suis,  Dieu  m'y  mette; 
et  si  fy  suis,  Dieu  in'y  maintienne  /)  Finally,  when  condemned  to 
death  at  the  stake,  she  showed  no  abject  clinging  to  life,  but 
rejoiced  that  her  work  was  done  :  "  My  voices  have  not  deceived 
me,"  was  her  consolation,  as  she  thought  of  the  visions  on  the 
hill  side  of  Domremy.  Her  last  word,  as  her  spirit  took  its 
flight,  —  as  some  said,  in  the  form  of  a  white  dove,  —  was 
"Jesus  !  "  —  O'REILLY  :  Lcs  deux  Proces  de  Jeanne  Dare. 

Gambetta  said  at  a  great  meeting  in  Paris,  Feb.  1,  1878, 
which  celebrated  under  the  presidency  of  Victor  Hugo  the  cen- 
tenary of  Voltaire's  death  :  "  For  myself,  I  feel  sufficiently  broad 
to  be  at  once  the  devotee  of  Jeanne  Dare,  and  the  disciple  and 
admirer,  of  Voltaire." 


JACQUES  &AVID. 

[A  French  historical  painter,  born  in  Paris,  1748  ;  studied  in 
Rome;  appointed  painter  to  the  king,  1783;  member  of  the  Con- 
vention, and  voted  for  the  king's  death;  was  the  friend  of  Robes- 
pierre, ajid  arranged  the  spectacles  of  the  republic;  Napoleon  made 
him  his  first  painter;  exiled  at  the  restoration;  died  at  Brussels,  1825.] 

Put  in  more  of  the  red !    Put  in  more  of  the  red ! 

When  mixing  his  colors,  after  witnessing,  as  anatomical 
studies,  the  dying  struggles  of  the  victims  of  the  Terror.  One 
cannot  then  'be  surprised  at  the  answer  he  gave  Louis  XVI., 
who  asked  him  how  soon  his  portrait  would  be  finished  :  "I  will 
never,  for  the  future,  paint  the  portrait  of  a  tyrant  until  his 
head  lies  before  me  on  the  scaffold  !  " 


STEPHEN  DECATUR.  *    179 


STEPHEN  DECATUK. 

[A  distinguished  American  naA-al  officer,  horn  in  Maryland,  Jan- 
uary, 1779;  entered  the  navy,  1798;  burned  an  American  frigate 
•which  had  been  captured  in  the  harbor  of  Tripoli,  1804;  captured 
the  British  frigate  "Macedonian,"  1812;  commanded  a  squadron 
against  the  Algerines,  May,  1815,  and  dictated  a  treaty  of  peace 
with  the  Dey  in  June  of  that  year;  killed  in  a  duel,  March,  1820.] 

Our  country,  right  or  wrong. 

Having  been  appointed  a  navy  commissioner  at  Washington, 
on  his  return  from  his  campaign  against  the  Algerine  pirates, 
Decatur  received  the  compliment  of  a  public  dinner  at  Norfolk , 
Va.,  in  April,  1816,  where  he  offered  a  toast,  which,  from  the  pro- 
verbial character  it  acquired,  his  biographer  calls  not  the  least 
valuable  of  his  legacies  to  his  countrymen:  "Our  country!  in 
her  intercourse  with  foreign  nations  may  she  always  be  in  the 
right ;  but  our  country,  right  or  wrong."  —  MACKENZIE  :  Life. 

When  the  Mexican  general  Arista  crossed  the  Rio  Grande, 
May,  1846,  and  was  defeated  by  Gen.  Taylor  at  Palo  Alto  and 
Resaca  de  la  Palma,  President  Polk  sent  a  special  message  to  the 
United  States  Congress,  calling  for  means  to  prosecute  hostili- 
ties. The  position  of  the  Whig  party,  whrch  sustained  the 
administration,  although  originally  opposed  to  war  with  Mexico, 
was  expressed  by  John  J.  Crittenden  of  Kentucky,  who  said, 
"  I  hope  to  find  my  country  in  the  right :  however,  I  will  stand 
by  her,  right  or  wrong." 

Another  toast,  which,  in  its  shortened  form,  "  Our  country, 
however  bounded,"  obtained  considerable  celebrity  in  its  day,  as 
the  sentiment  of  Northern  Whigs  upon  the  same  subject,  and 
which  has  often  been  confounded  with  the  preceding,  was 
offered  by  the  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  at  the  city  dinner 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  July  4,  1846,  after  Texas  had  been 
virtually  annexed,  and  a  disposition  was  shown  in  some  quarters 
to  resist  annexation  by  force  or  secession  :  "  Our  country,  wheth- 
er bounded  by  the  St.  John's  and  the  Sabine,  or  however  other- 
wise bounded  or  described,  and  be  the  measurements  more  or 
less,  —  still  our  country,  to  be  cherished  in  all  our  hearts,  to  be 
defended  by  all  our  hands  !  " 

One  or  two  sayings  during  the  Mexican  war  became  historic, 


180  MADAME  DU  DEFFAXD. 

although  the  authenticity  of  the  first  has  been  disputed.  At  a 
critical  moment  of  the  battle  of  Buena  Vista,  Feb.  23,  1847, 
Bragg's  artillery  was  ordered  to  the  support  of  the  infantry, 
•who  were  overwhelmed  by  numbers.  A  single  discharge  of  his 
battery  made  the  enemy  waver.  "  A  little  more  grape,  Capt. 
Bragg ! "  shouted  Gen.  Taylor.  Upon  a  second  and  third  dis- 
charge, the  Mexicans  fled  in  disorder.  Mr.  Crittenden,  having 
gone  to  Santa  Anna's  headquarters,  was  told  that  if  Gen.  Taylor 
would  surrender,  he  would  be  protected.  "  Gen.  Taylor  never 
surrenders,"  was  the  reply.  It  became  a  watchword  in  the  next 
political  campaign,  when  Gen.  Taylor  was  elected  to  the  Presi- 
dency. 

MADAME  DU  DEFFAND. 

[A  French  lady  of  caustic  wit  and  able  critical  ability,  born  1697; 
separated  from  her  husband  soon  after  marriage;  her  house  was 
for  fifty  years  the  resort  of  authors,  statesmen,  and  men  of  fashion; 
corresponded  with  Horace  Walpole,  Voltaire,  and  d'Alembert;  be- 
came nearly  blind  at  fifty-four;  died  1789.] 

It  is  only  the  first  step  that  costs. 

Mme.  du  Deffand  describes,  in  a  letter  to  Horace  Walpole, 
June  6,  17G7,  the  origin  of  one  of  the  most  celebrated  mots  in 
the  French  language.  She  says  that  Cardinal  de  Polignac,  who 
was  a  great  talker,  and  a  man  of  extraordinary  credulity,  had 
given  her  an  account  of  the  martyrdom  of  St.  Denis  at  Mont- 
martre,  and  stated  that,  after  his  decapitation,  he  walked  with 
his  head  in  his  hands,  two  leagues  to  the  spot  where  afterwards 
the  cathedral  dedicated  to  him  was  built,  in  the  village  called  by 
his  name.  Her  comment  was,  "  The  distance  is  nothing :  it  is 
only  the  first  step  that  costs  "  (La  distance  n'y  fait  rien:  il  n'y  a 
que  le  premier  pas  qui  coute). 

Camille  Desmoulins  gained  the  implacable  hatred  of  the  stern 
and  haughty  St.  Just  by  saying  jocosely  of  him,  "  He  carries  his 
head  like  the  Host  "  (comme  un  saint  sacrement),  to  which  St.  Just 
retorted,  "I  will  make  him  carry  his  like  a  St.  Denis."  Des- 
moulins soon  afterwards  accompanied  Danton  to  the  guillotine, 
saying,  "My  pleasantry  has  killed  me  "  (C'est  ma  plaisanterie  qui 
ma  tue). 


MADAME  DU  DEFFAND.  181 

The  things  that  cannot  be  known  to  us  are  not  neces- 
essary  to  us. 

Letter  to  Voltaire. 

"Vanity,"  she  said,  "ruins  more  women  than  love."  In  her 
opinion,  "women  are  never  stronger  than  when  they  arm  them- 
selves with  their  weakness." 

She  preferred  "an  old  acquaintance  to  a  new  friend." 

How  happy  one  would  be  if  one  could  throw  off  one's 
self  as  one  throws  off  others  ! 

This  ability  to  "  throw  off  others  "  was  illustrated  by  her  going 
out  to  supper  on  the  day  of  the  death  of  M.  Pont-de-Veyle,  an 
intimate  friend  for  forty  years.  The  conversation  turned  upon 
her  loss  :  "  Alas  !  "  she  said,  "  he  died  at  six  this  evening :  other- 
wise you  would  not  see  me  here  "  (sans  cela  vous  ne  me  verriez 
pas  id). 

Having  been  told  of  a  mot  of  Frederick  the  Great,  who  spoke 
of  the  philosophers  "having  levelled  the  forest  of  prejudices" 
(qui  abattent  la  foret  des  prejugcs),  Mme.  du  Deifand  was  said 
to  have  remarked,  "  That  is  why  they  supply  us  with  so  many 
fagots"  (Ah!  voild  done  pourquoi  Us  nous  de'bitent  tant  de  fagots}, 
(fagots  meaning  either  fagots,  or,  in  the  other  sense  of  the  pun, 
tales  or  "yarns").  More  honest  than  Talleyrand,  who  never 
refused  the  paternity  of  a  bon-mot,  she  admitted  in  a  letter 
to  Walpole  that  it  was  good,  but  claimed  no  right  over  it  but 
that  of  "  adoption." —  Correspondence,  I.  222. 

She  said  of  Montesquieu's  "L'Esprit  des  Lois,"  that  he  might 
better  have  called  it  "L'Esprit  sur  les  Lois"  (or  "Wit  on 
Laws  "). 

When  the  remark  was  made  of  Voltaire,  the  author  of  the 
Lives  of  Charles  XII.  and  Louis  XIV.,  that  he  had  not  much 
invention,  Mme.  du  Deffand  exclaimed,  "What  more  can  you 
ask  ?  He  has  invented  history !  "  (Que  voulez-vous  de  plu*  f  II  a 
invente  Vhistoire  /)  Lord  Bolingbroke  once  charged  Voltaire  with 
having  changed  in  his  narrative  the  circumstances  of  an  event 
in  the  life  of  Charles  XII.  for  the  sake  of  effect.  "Conft->>." 
he  said,  "that  it  did  not  occur  as  you  have  told  it."  -"Con- 
fess," replied  Voltaire,  "  that  it  is  better  as  I  have  told  it." 


182  DEMADES. 


Her  caustic  manner  of  speaking  of  friend  as  well  as  foe  caused 
Mme.  clu  Deffand  to  be  compared  to  the  physician  who  said, 
"My  friend  fell  sick,  I  attended  him :  he  died,  I  dissected  him." 

She  maintained  an  intimacy  for  many  years  with  President 
Renault ;  who  was  in  the  habit  of  dining  frequently  at  her 
house,  and  remarked,  that  between  her  cook  and  the  Marquise 
de  Brinvilliers,  who  was  executed  in  1676  for  poisoning  three 
of  her  relatives  and  several  other  people,  there  was  only  dif- 
ference of  intention  (entre  elle  et  la  Brinvilliers  il  ny  a  de 
difference  que  dans  V  intention) . 


DEMADES. 

[An  Athenian  orator  and  demagogue;  an  opponent  of  Demosthe- 
nes; entered  public  life,  356  B.C. ;  after  Chneronea  acted  with  the  party 
of  Macedon;  excluded  on  account  of  bribery,  by  Philip,  from  public 
functions;  put  to  death  by  Autipater  or  Cassander,  318.1 

Draco  made  his  laws  not  with  ink,  but  with  blood. 

The  Athenian  legislator,  who  nourished  600  B.C.,  made  the 
least  theft  punishable  with  death,  because,  as  he  said,  small 
offences  deserved  it,  and  he  could  find  no  greater  punishment  for 
the  most  heinous.  His  laws  were  repealed  by  Solon.  —  PLU- 
TARCH :  Life  of  Solon. 

DEMONAX. 

[A  Cynic  philosopher;  born  in  Cyprus;  lived  at  Athens  about  150 
A.D.I 

Probably  all  laws  are  useless;  for  good  men  do  not 
want  laws  at  all,  and  bad  men  are  made  no  better 
by  them. 

To  a  rich  man  who  seemed  proud  of  his  mantle,  which  was 
dyed  purple,  Demonax  said,  "Before  you  wore  it,  it  was  worn  by 
a  sheep." 

A  bad  speaker,  who  was  advised  to  practise  before  an  audi- 
ence, said  he  always  spoke  to  himself.  "  It  is  no  wonder  you 
speak  so  badly,"  suggested  Demonax,  "  with  such  a  fool  to  hear 
you." 


DEMOSTHENES. 


DEMOSTHENES. 

[Born  near  Athens,  about  382  B.C.;  at  eighteen  won  his 
against  his  unfaithful  guardians;  defended  the  liberties  of  his  coun- 
try against  Philip  of  Macedon;  delivered  the  "Oration  on  the 
Crown,"  330;  being  condemned  to  pay  a  heavy  fine  on  the  charge  of 
accepting  a  bribe  from  a  Macedonian,  retired  to  JEgina;  returned  to 
Athens  on  the  death  of  Alexander;  took  poison  on  his  death  being 
decreed  by  Antipater,  322.] 

A  man  that  runs  away  may  fight  again. 

Quoting  a  line  from  Menander,  when  reproached  with  throwing 
away  his  shield  at  the  battle  of  Chseronea,  338  B.C.  Familiar  in 
English  by  the  lines  in  "  Hudibras,"  III.  3  :  — 

"  For  those  that  fly  may  fight  again, 
Which  he  can  never  do  that's  slain." 

And  Goldsmith  :  — 

"  For  he  who  fights  and  runs  away 
May  live  to  fight  another  day." 

The  Art  of  Poetry  on  a  New  Plan,  1761,  II.  147. 

But  the  same  idea  was  expressed  in  a  translation  from  the 
French,  "A  Pleasant  Satyre  or  Poesie,"  as  early  as  1595  :  — 

"  Oft  he  that  doth  abide 

Is  cause  of  his  own  pain, 
But  he  that  flieth  in  good  tide 
Perhaps  may  fight  again." 

Here  comes  the  pruner  of  my  periods. 

His  remark  whenever  he  saw  Phocion  rise  to  oppose  him.  "It 
is  uncertain,"  says  Plutarch,  "whether  Demosthenes  referred  to 
Phocion's  manner  of  speaking,  or  to  his  life  and  character.  The 
latter  might  be  the  case,  because  he  knew  that  a  word  or  a  nod 
from  a  man  of  superior  character  is  more  regarded  than  the  long 
discourses  of  another."  —  Life  of  Phocion. 

Demosthenes  said  of  the  luxury  of  Corinth,  "  One  buys  repent- 
ance there  dearly."  Hence  the  proverb  of  the  impossibility  of 
the  poor  going  there  :  "  It  is  not  given  to  every  one  to  visit 
Corinth  "  (Non  cuivis  liomini  contingit  adire  Corinthum}.  —  HOR- 
ACE: Epistles,  I.  17,  36. 


184  LORD  DENMAN. 


•yen  some  of  the  former  adversaries  of  Demosthenes  came  to 
y  as  he  was  leaving  Athens  to  go  into  exile,  and  offered  him 
xoney,  he  exclaimed,  "  What  comfort  can  I  have  when  I  leave 
enemies  in  this  city  more  generous  than  it  seems  possible  to  find 
friends  in  any  other?  "  The  same  remark  is  attributed  by  Plu- 
tarch to  ^Eschines,  the  rival  of  Demosthenes,  when  the  latter 
offered  him  money  as  he  was  going  into  exile.  He  had  im- 
peached Demosthenes  in  the  matter  of  the  crown  voted  him  on 
motion  of  Ctesiphon,  for  rebuilding  the  walls  of  Athens  at  his 
own  expense.  ^Eschines  opened  a  school  of  rhetoric  at  Rhodes, 
where  he  read  to  his  pupils  the  oration  of  Demosthenes  on  the 
Crown.  When  they  expressed  their  admiration  of  it  writh  much 
enthusiasm,  "  What  would  you  have  said,"  asked  their  master, 
"  if  you  had  heard  the  lion  himself  ?  " 

LORD  DENMAN. 

[Thomas  Denman,  an  English  judge;  born  in  London,  1779;  edu- 
cated at  Cambridge;  entered  Parliament,  1818;  associated  with 
Brougham  in  the  defence  of  Queen  Caroline,  1820;  attorney-general, 
1830;  chief-justice  of  the  king's  bench,  1832;  raised  to  the  peerage, 
1834;  resigned,  1850;  died  1854.] 

A  delusion,  a  mockery,  and  a  snare. 

In  his  judgment  in  O'Connell  vs.  the  Queen  (11  C.  and  F., 
351)  the  chief  justice  used  an  expression  concerning  trial  by  jury, 
which  he  afterwards  told  his  son  he  regretted,  because  it  was 
not  judicial,  but  the  last  words  of  which,  however,  are  often 
quoted  by  those  who  never  heard  of  the  learned  judge  :  "  If  it  is 
possible  that  such  a  practice  as  that  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
present  instance  should  be  allowed  to  pass  without  a  remedy, 
trial  by  jury  itself,  instead  of  being  a  security  to  persons  who  are 
accused,  will  be  a  delusion,  a  mockery,  and  a  snare." 

JOHN  DENNIS. 

[An  English  critic  and  dramatist;  born  in  London,  1057;  made 
many  enemies  by  his  satirical  attacks  upon  public  functionaries  and 
authors,  as  Pope,  who  revenged  himself  in  "The  Duuciad;  "  died 
1734.] 


LORD  DERBY.  185 


They    won't    act    my    tragedy,    but     they    steal    ray 
thunder. 

Finding  that  the  manager  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre  was  using 
in  "  Macbeth "  some  artificial  thunder  which  Dennis  had  in- 
vented for  a  play  of  his  own  the  manager  had  rejected. 

LOUD  DERBY. 

[Edward  Stanley,  fourteenth  Earl  of  Derby;  an  eminent  English 
statesman  and  orator;  born  in  Lancashire,  1795);  educated  at  Oxford; 
entered  Parliament,  1820;  chief  secretary  for  Ireland,  1830-33;  secre- 
tary for  the  colonies,  1811;  raised  to  the  peerage,  1844;  first  lord  of 
the  treasury,  1852,  1858,  1806;  translated  Homer's  Iliad,  1805;  died 
October,  1869.] 

Johnny's  upset  the  coach ! 

To  Sir  James  Graham,  on  the  rejection  of  the  Reform  Bill  in 
1831,  which  had  been  mainly  drawn  by  Lord  John  Russell. 
The  Grey  ministry  thereupon  resigned,  appealed  to  the  country, 
and  obtained  a  large  majority,  by  which  the  bill  was  finally 
passed  in  1832.  To  some  one  who  thought  that  the  reform 
bill  passed  by  the  Derby  ministry  in  1807,  giving  the  right  of 
suffrage  to  householders  in  boroughs,  was  too  great  a  conces- 
sion to  the  Liberals,  the  Premier  replied,  "  We  have  dished  the 
Whigs." 

He  said  in  the  House  of  Lords,  February,  1864,  of  the  course 
of  Earl  Russell,  the  minister  for  foreign  affairs,  "  The  foreign 
policy  of  the  noble  earl,  as  far  as  the  principle  of  non-interven- 
tion is  concerned,  may  be  summed  up  in  two  truly  expressive 
words  :  '  meddle  '  and  '  muddle.'  " 

Disraeli  said  of  Lord  Derby,  then  Lord  Stanley,  in  the  Plouse 
of  Commons,  April,  1844,  "  The  noble  lord  is  the  Prince  Rupert 
of  parliamentary  discussion."  The  comparison  was  a  malicious 
one.  The  nephew  of  Charles  I.  was  distinguished  for  his  bravery 
and  headlong  courage ;  but  his  rash  pursuit  of  a  part  of  Crom- 
well's  army  at  Xaseby,  while  the  main  body  remained  on  the 
field,  gave  the  victory  to  the  Parliamentarians ;  and,  after  his 
surrender  of  Bristol,  he  was  deprived  of  his  command  :  so  on 
this  occasion  Disraeli  added,  ''  His  charge  is  resistless  ;  but  when 
he  returns  from  the  pursuit,  he  always  finds  his  camp  in  posses- 


186  DESAIX. 


sion  of  the  enemy."     Bulwer  applied  the  epithet  to  Stanley  in 
"  The  New  Timon,"  published  in  1846  :  - 

"  The  brilliant  chief,  irregularly  great, 
Frank,  haughty,  rash,  —  the  Rupert  of  debate." 

Lord  Stanley  said  in  a  speech  on  the  abolition  of  the  Corn 
Laws,  March  15,  1836,  "  The  Continent  will  not  suffer  England 
to  be  the  work-shop  of  the  world." 

We  must  stem  the  tide  of  democracy. 

While  Lord  Derby  did  not  utter  these  exact  words,  he  spoke, 
March  15,  1852,  of  a  government  "  which  will  exert  itself,  I  don't 
hesitate  to  say,  to  stem  with  some  opposition,  to  supply  some  bar- 
rier against  the  current  of  that  continually  increasing  and  en- 
croaching democratic  influence  in  this  nation,  which  is  bent  on 
throwing  the  whole  power  and  authority  of  the  government 
nominally  into  the  hands  of  the  masses,  but  practically  and 
really  into  those  of  demagogues  and  republicans,  who  exercise 
an  influence  over  those  unthinking  masses." 

DESAIX. 

[Louis  Charles  Desaix  de  Veygoux,  a  gallant  French  general; 
born  in  Auvergne,  1768;  imprisoned  during  the  Terror;  general  of 
division  under  Moreau,  1796;  and  in  the  expedition  to  Egypt,  where 
he  governed  the  province  of  Upper  Egypt  with  firmness  and  mode- 
ration; killed  at  the  battle  of  Marengo,  1800.] 

The  battle  is  lost,  but  there  is  time  to  gain  another. 

To  Bonaparte,  who  thought  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
June  14,  that  the  battle  of  Marengo  was  lost ;  a  large  part  of  the 
French  army  being  routed  and  in  confusion.  The  advance  of  the 
division  of  Desaix  saved  the  day.  He  was  himself,  however, 
struck  by  a  bullet  in  the  heart,  and  killed  instantly :  so  that  he 
could  not  have  said,  as  reported,  "  Tell  the  First  Consul  that  I 
regret  dying  before  I  have  done  enough  to  make  my  name  known 
to  posterity."  He  was  buried  at  the  summit  of  the  Pass  of  St. 
Bernard,  where  Bonaparte  said,  "  His  tomb  shall  have  the  Alps 
for  its  pedestal,  and  the  monks  of  St.  Bernard  for  its  guardians." 

Xapoleon  told  O'Meara  at  St.  Helena,  January,  1817,  that 
Desaix  sent  him  the  message  quoted  above ;  but  it  is  distinctly 
denied  by  Marmont,  Duke  of  Ragusa  (Memoirs,  II.  137). 


CAMILLE   DESMOULINS.  187 

CAMILLE  DESMOULINS. 

[One  of  the  principal  actors  of  the  French  Revolution;  called 
"  the  attorney-general  of  the  lantern,"  from  the  summary  manner  in 
which  he  condemned  royalists  to  be  hanged  to  the  ropes  by  which 
the  street-lanterns  were  suspended;  born  in  Picardy,  1762;  a  school- 
mate of  Robespierre  in  Paris;  took  part  in  the  storming  of  the  Bas- 
tille, 1789;  became  a  partisan  of  Danton;  elected  to  the  Convention, 
1792;  endeavored  to  mitigate  the  cruelties  of  the  Terror  by  the 
publication  of  the  "  Vieux  Cordelier;"  proscribed  and  executed 
with  Danton,  April  5,  1794.] 

Burning  is  no  answer  (Bruler  n'estpas  repondre). 

In  reply  to  Robespierre,  whose  extreme  measures  Desmoulins 
and  the  Dantonists  were  then  opposing ;  and  who,  in  return,  pro- 
posed to  burn,  by  way  of  correction,  the  numbers  of  their  moderate 
journal,  "  Le  Vieux  Cordelier." 

Desmoulins,  "  not  afraid  at  one  time  to  embrace  liberty  on  a 
heap  of  dead  bodies,  begins  to  ask  now,  whether  among  so  many 
arresting  and  punishing  committees  there  ought  not  to  be  a 'com- 
mittee of  mercy.'  His  first  number  begins  with  '  O  Pitt ! '  his  last 
is  dated  15  Pluviose,  year  2  (Feb.  3,  1794),  and  ends  with  these 
words  of  Montezuma's :  '  Les  dieux  out  soif  '  (The  gods  are 
athirst).  —  CARLYLE  :  French  Revolution,  ii.  8,  1. 

His  retort  to  Robespierre  became  proverbial,  and  was  applied, 
for  instance,  to  the  Swiss  canton  of-  Uri,  which  in  the  excess  of 
its  loyalty  to  the  myth  of  AVilliam  Tell,  burned  a  book  of  the 
cure  Freudenberger  of  Berne,  entitled  "  William  Tell :  a  Danish 
Fable." 

Desmoulins  had  not  always  opposed  Robespierre ;  for  he  once 
asked,  "What  is  Virtue,  if  Robespierre  be  not  its  image?" 
Now,  however,  his  mot  was  fatal.  "  Let  his  paper  be  read ! " 
cried  Robespierre.  In  a  few  clays,  he  who  had  written  in  1789  : 
"  My  motto  is  that  of  all  honest  people,  —  no  superiors ! '"  found 
his  superior  within  his  own  party,  and  was  denounced  with  the 
rest  of  the  Dantonists.  Being  asked  his  age  by  the  Revolution- 
ary Tribunal,  April  3,  179i,  he  replied,  ''I  am  thirty-three, — 
the  age  of  the  mn*-culotte  Jesus,  a  critical  age  for  every  patriot." 
On  his  way  to  execution,  remembering  the  days  when  Necker  was 
dismissed,  and  he  himself  harangued  the  populace  from  a  chair 


188  DENIS  DIDEROT. 


in  the  Palais-Royal,  he  bitterly  exclaimed,  "  This  is  the  reward 
destined  to  the  first  apostle  of  liberty ! '  Like  Danton,  he  took 
credit  to  himself  for  generosity  :  "  I  go  to  the  scaffold,"  he  said, 
"for  having  dropped  a  tear  over  the  unfortunate:  my  only  regret 
in  dying  is  the  want  of  ability  to  save  them."  Only  when  he 
no  longer  was  of  the  dominant  faction  did  he  see  that  the  people 
had  been  imposed  upon  by  high-sounding  but  empty  phrases- 
"  Poor  people ! "  he  cried  to  the  multitude  who  flocked  to  his 
execution,  "how  they  have  deceived  you!  "  (Pauvre peuple,  on  te 
trompe  /) 

DENIS  DIDEROT. 

[An  eminent  French  philosopher;  born  in  Champagne,  1712  or  1713; 
supported  himself  in  Paris  by  teaching,  and  lived  many  years  in 
poverty  while  engaged  in  study ;  was  imprisoned  for  his  first  publi- 
cations, or  saw  them  burned;  founded  and  edited  with  d'Aleinbert 
the  Encyclopaedia,  from  which  he  retired,  1759;  visited  St.  Peters- 
burg, 1765;  died  in  Paris,  1784.] 

The  first  step  towards  philosophy  is  incredulity. 

In  his  last  conversation. 

Another  of  his  aphorisms  will  be  less  contested :  "  Only  the 
bad  man  is  alone." 

DIOGENES. 

[A  Cynic  philosopher ;  born  at  Sinope,  in  Asia  Minor ;  lived  at 
Athens,  where  he  affected  a  contempt  for  the  customs  of  society; 
being  taken  by  pirates,  was  sold  as  a  slave  in  Crete,  but  was 
kindly  treated;  died  at  Corinth,  323  B.C.,  aged  about  ninety.] 

Habit  is  second  nature. 

Cicero  gives  us  the  Latin  form,  "  Consuetude  quasi  altera  natu- 
ra"  (De  Finibus,  5,  25);  and,  "Great  is  the  power  of  habit" 
(Consuetudinis  magna  vis  est)  (Tusc.  Disp.  2,  17).  Ovid  says 
that  "nothing  is  stronger  than  habit"  (nil  consuetudlne  majus)  ; 
and  Quintus  Curtius  Rufus  thinks  habit  to  be  not  merely 
a  second  nature,  but  stronger  than  nature  (Consuetudo  naturd 
potentior  est). 


DIOGENES.  189 


I  am  seeking  a  man. 

When  seen  groping  about  with  a  lighted  lantern  at  midday, 
and  asked  what  he  was  seeking.  Doubted  by  Fouruier,  because 
Diogenes  Laertius  has  not  mentioned  it.  Lanterns  are  men- 
tioned by  ^Eschylus  and  Aristophanes.  When  Dionysius  asked 
Plato  what  business  he  had  in  Sicily,  the  philosopher  replied, 
"I  came  to  seek  an  honest  man.''  -PLUTARCH:  Life  of  Dion. 
Frederick  the  Great,  writing  to  d'Alembert,  after  the  latter  had 
refused  the  presidency  of  the  Berlin  Academy,  said,  "  I  have 
been  more  fortunate  than  Diogenes,  for  I  have  found  the  man 
for  whom  he  searched  so  long  "  {car  fai  trouve  Fhomme  qu'd  a 
cherche  si  longtemps.) 

To  show  his  contempt  of  Plato's  definition  of  a  man,  as  "  a 
featherless  biped,"  Diogenes  exhibited  a  plucked  cock,  saying, 
"  Here  is  Plato's  man ;  "  Franklin  called  man  "  a  tool-making 
animal ; "  and  Democritus  was  more  comprehensive,  "  'Tis  all 
that  we  see  and  know." 

But  I  am  not  derided. 

To  some  one  \vho  said  to  him,  "  They  deride  you."  He  ac- 
counted those  only  to  be  ridiculed,  says  Plutarch,  who  feel  the 
ridicule,  and  are  discomposed  by  it.  -  -Life  of  fabius  Maximus. 

When  asked  how  it  wras  that  philosophers  were  the  follow- 
ers of  rich  men,  and  not  rich  men  of  philosophers,  he  replied, 
"But  the  one  sort  know  what  they  have  need  of,  and  the  other 
do  not." 

He  threw  away  the  only  utensil  he  had,  —  a  shell  with  which 
he  drank,  —  after  seeing  a  boy  drink  from  the  hollow  of  his 
hand.  "He  teaches  me,"  said  Diogenes,  "that  I  preserve  an 
unnecessary  utensil."  —  SENECA  :  Epistles,  21. 

Seeing  a  magnificent  bridge  over  a  small  stream,  he  remarked, 
"  The  people  would  do  well  to  sell  their  bridge  to  buy  wrater." 

When  asked  why  he  offered  his  hand  to  a  statue,  he  replied, 
"To  accustom  myself  to  a  refusal." 

He  replied  to  the  question,  what  beast's  bite  was  the  most  dan- 
gerous, "If  you  mean  wild  beasts,  the  slanderer's;  if  tame  ones, 
the  flatterer's." 

When  a  man  of  bad  reputation  put  over  his  door,  "  Let  noth- 


190  DIONYSIUS  THE  ELDER. 

ing  bad  enter  here,"  Diogenes  asked,  "Where  does  the  owner 
enter?  " 

"  I  can  govern  men,"  he  said,  when  exposed  for  sale  in  Crete : 
"therefore  sell  me  to  some  one  who  needs  a  master."  He  was 
purchased  by  Xeniades,  a  rich  citizen  of  Corinth,  by  whom  he 
was  treated  kindly. 

When  asked  by  his  physician,  on  awaking  during  his  last  ill- 
ness, how  he  was,  Diogenes  replied,  "Nothing,  sir,  only  one 
brother  anticipates  another,  —  Sleep  before  Death." 

DIONYSIUS  THE  ELDER. 

[Tyrant  of  Syracuse;  born  about  430  B.C.;  appointed  one  of  the 
generals  against  the  Carthaginians,  and  persuaded  the  people  to 
intrust  him  with  the  government;  died  367.] 

I  would  have  somebody  more  hated  than  myself. 

When  blamed  for  rewarding  a  wicked  man,  who  was  hated  by 
the  citizens. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  if  he  were  at  leisure,  "  God  forbid," 
he  said,  "  that  it  should  ever  befall  me  !  " 

JOHN  A.  DIX. 

[An  American  statesman  and  soldier,  born  in  New  Hampshire, 
1708;  removed  to  New  York,  where  he  became  secretary  of  state, 
1833,  and  United-States  senator,  1845-49;  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
1860-61 ;  major-general  in  the  civil  war,  and  commanded  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  East,  1864;  minister  to  France,  1867;  died  1879.] 

If  any  one  attempts  to  haul  down  the  American  flag, 
shoot  him  on  the  spot. 

Ordering  by  telegraph  from  Washington,  Jan.  29,  1861,  the 
arrest,  at  NewT  Orleans,  of  Capt.  Breshwood,  the  commander  of 
the  revenue  cutter  "  McClennand,"  which  it  was  feared  he  would 
turn  over  to  the  rebels. 

MARCUS  LIVIUS  DRUSUS. 

[Called  Drusus  Junior;  an  ambitious  'politician;  tribune  of  the 
people,  91  B.C.;  desired  to  extend  Roman  citizenship,  but  saw  his 
laws  vetoed  by  the  senate;  conspiring,  'therefore,  against  the  govern- 
ment, he  was  assassinated,  91  or  90  B.C.] 


CARDINAL  DUBOIS.  191 

Build  it  so  that  every  citizen  may  behold  every  action 
I  perform. 

When  his  architect  proposed  to  build  a  house  for  him  in  which 
he  could  screen  himself  from  observation. 

"Hardly  a  man  will  you  find,"  says  Seneca,  "who  could  live 
with  his  door  open."  Talleyrand  said,  according  to  Stendhal, 
"  The  private  life  of  a  citizen  ought  to  have  a  wall  around  it " 
(La  vie  prive'e  d'un  citoyen  doit  etre  mure'e).  Fournier  suggests 
that  it  was  simple  prudence  for  the  diplomatist  to  make  himself 
the  apostle  of  discretion.  —  D Esprit,  437.  "  Choose  out  the 
wisest,  brightest,  noblest  of  mankind,"  said  Lord  Erskine,  "  and 
how  many  of  them  could  bear  to  be  pursued  into  the  little  cor- 
ners of  their  lives?" 

CARDINAL  DUBOIS. 

[Guillaume  Dubois,  a  French  ecclesiastic  and  statesman  of  scan- 
dalous life  and  character;  born  in  Limousin,  165G;  preceptor  to  the 
Duke  de  Chartres,  afterwards  the  Regent  Orleans,  whose  favor  he 
gained  by  pandering  to  his  vices;  became  councillor  of  state,  and 
showed  great  astuteness  in  political  matters  ;  minister  of  foreign 
affairs;  archbishop  of  Cambrai,  and  cardinal,  1721;  prime  minister 
the  next  year;  died  1725.] 

To  become  a  great  man,  it  is  necessary  to  be  a  great 
rascal  (Pour  devenir  grand  komme,  il  faut  etre  grand  scelcrat). 

It  was  worthy  to  have  been  the  maxim  of  his  life. 

After  being  kicked  five  times  by  the  regent,  once  each  for  the 
rogue,  the  pimp,  the  priest,  the  minister,  the  archbishop,  Dubois 
coolly  remarked,  "  I  pardon  you,  because  I  await  the  sixth  as 
cardinal." 

JEAN  FRANCOIS  DUCOS. 

[A  French  republican;  born  at  Bordeaux,  17G5;  deputy  to  the 
Convention  from  the  Giroiule,  and  shared  the  fate  of  his  colleagues, 
October,  1793.] 

I  hope  the  edge  of  your   guillotine   is   sharper   than 
your  scissors. 

While  his  hair  was  being  cut  off  by  the  executioner.  He  also 
humorously  remarked  on  the  scaffold,  "  What  a  pity  the  Con- 


192  CHARLES  FRANCOIS  DUMOURIEZ. 

vention  did  not  decree 'the  unity  and  indivisibility  of  our  per- 
sons !  "  —  as  it  had  of  the  republic. 

CHARLES  FRANCOIS  DUMOURIEZ. 

[A  French  statesman  and  general;  born  at  Cambrai,  1739;  favored 
the  moderate  party  in  the  Revolution;  minister  for  foreign  affairs, 
17!»2,  where  he  gained  the  king's  confidence;  general-in-chief  of  the 
French  army;  defeated  the  Anstrians  at  Jemappes,  and  conquered 
Belgium;  having  plotted  a  counter-revolution,  was  obliged  to  go  into 
exile,  and  died  in  England,  1820.] 

Sire,  I  shall  often  displease  you,  but  I  shall  never 
deceive  you  ( Je  vous  deplaircti  souvent,  mats  je  ne  vous  trom- 
perai  jamais). 

To  Louis  XVI.,  when  made  minister  for  foreign  affairs. 

When  the  master  of  ceremonies  exclaimed,  on  Roland's  first 
appearance  at  court,  "  Without  buckles  in  his  shoes !  "  Dumouriez 
satirically  replied,  "  Ah,  sir,  all  is  lost !  "  (tout  est  perdu  /) 

He  called  the  Girondists  "the  Jesuits  of  the  Revolution."  — 
Memoirs,  III.  314.  "  They  are  men  skilled  in  advocate  fence. 
They  have  been  called  the  Jesuits  of  the  Revolution,  but  that  is 
too  hard  a  name."  —  CARLYLE  :  French  Revolution,  II.  5,  2. 

When  a  ham,  which  had  the  cross  of  the  Teutonic  order  cut 
in  it,  was  brought  on  to  the  table,  during  one  of  his  campaigns, 
Dumouriez  asked,  "  What,  does  the  hog,  too,  belong  to  the  Teu- 
tonic order  ?  ' 

While  meditating  a  restoration  of  Louis  XVI.,  in  collusion 
with  Austria,  he  defined  his  position  :  "  Though  I  were  to  be 
called  Caesar,  Cromwell,  or  Monk,  I  will  save  my  country,  in 
spite  of  the  Jacobins  and  the  conventional  regicides  who  protect 
them."  Four  commissioners  were  sent  to  him  by  the  Convention, 
one  of  whom,  Bancal,  urged  the  example  of  the  obedience  of  the 
great  men  of  antiquity  to  their  country.  "  But,"  replied  Dumou- 
riez, "the  Romans  did  not  slay  Tarquin.  They  had  neither 
Jacobin  clubs  nor  •  revolutionary  tribunals.  Tigers  crave  my 
head  :  I  will  not  give  it  to  them.  Since  you  cite  the  Romans, 
I  declare  that  I  will  never  be  a  Curtius  to  cast  myself  into  the 
gulf."  The  allusion  is  to  the  tradition,  that,  in  362  B.C.,  the 
earth  in  the  Roman  forum  gave  way,  and  a  great  chasm  ap- 


ANDRE   M.   J.   DUPIN.  193 

peared,  which  the  soothsayers  declared  could  only  be  filled  up 
by  throwing  into  it  Rome's  greatest  treasure ;  that  thereupon 
Curtius,  a  noble  youth,  mounted  his  steed  in  full  armor,  and, 
declaring  that  Rome  possessed  no  greater  treasure  than  a  brave 
and  gallant  citizen,  leaped  into  the  abyss ;  upon  which  the  earth 
closed  over  him. 

ANDRE  M.  J.  DUPIN. 

[A  French  lawyer  and  legislator;  born  in  the  Nievre,  February, 
1783;  elected  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  1826;  opposed  the  ordi- 
nances which  caused  the  revolution  of  1830;  member  of  the  first 
cabinet  of  Louis  Philippe;  president  of  the  Chamber,  from  whieJi  he 
retired,  1852;  member  of  the  Academy;  prociireur-yeneral  of  France, 
1857;  died  November,  1865.] 

A  sword,  the  hilt  of  which  is  at  Rome,  and  the  point 
everywhere  ( Une  epee,  dont  la  poignee  est  a  Rome,  et  la  pointe, 
partout). 

This  comparison  of  the  Jesuits  which  Dupin  made  in  a  lega? 
argument  in  1825  caused  some  sensation,  but  it  was  not  original. 
Diderot  in  a  letter  to  Mile.  Voland  quoted  it  word  for  word 
from  the  Abbe  Raynal,  and  J.  B.  Rousseau  exhumed  it  from  the 
"  Anti-Coton  "  of  d'Aubigne,  a  Protestant  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, who  attributed  to  a  Pole  the  saying,  "The  Society  of  Jesus 
is  a  sword,  the.  blade  of  which  is  in  France,  and  the  handle  in 
Rome."  Prince  Napoleon  (Jerome)  said  of  the  same  society,  in 
a  debate  on  the  clergy  in  the  French  Assembly  in  1877,  "  Sow 
Jesuits,  you  will  reap  revolt  "  (Semez  du  je'suite,  vous  recolterez 
de  la  revolte^) . 

When  the  point  was  raised  after  the  revolution  of  July  in 
1830,  whether  Louis  Philippe  should  take  the  title  of  "Philip 
VII.,"  Dupin  declared  in  an  antithetical  form,  which  was  after- 
wards, like  many  a  catch-word,  repeated  on  every  conceivable 
occasion :  "  The  Due  d'Orleans  is  called  to  the  throne  not  be- 
cause, but  in  spite  of,  his  being  a  Bourbon  "  (non  parce  que,  mais 
quoique).  Dominique  de  Gourgues,  a  Protestant  gentleman,  fitted 
out  three  ships  at  his  own  expense,  and  sailed  for  Florida,  where 
the  Spaniards  had  executed  many  of  his  co-religionists  "because 
they  were  heretics,  although  French  "  (parce  que  he're'tiques,  quoi- 


194  EDWARD  III. 


que  Franfais).  He  took  two  forts  from  the  Spaniards,  and  exe- 
cuted eight  hundred  men,  "because  they  were  assassins,  although 
Spaniards  "  (quoique  Espagnols,  parce  qu"1  assassins). 

Berryer  said  to  the  President  of  the  Chamber,  in  1851,  while 
Louis  Xapoleon  was  preparing  the  coup  d'etat,  "  Show  ine  a  little 
door,  by  which  one  could  get  into  the  Chamber,  and  bring  you 
support  in  case  you  were  attacked  :  "  Dupin  replied,  "I  am  just 
looking  for  one  by  which  I  could  get  out." 

EDWARD  III. 

[King  of  England;  born  at  Windsor,  1312;  proclaimed  king  under 
a  regency,  1327;  defeated  the  Scotch  at  Halidon  Hill,  1333;  invaded 
France,  and  gained  the  battle  of  Cre'cy,  134G;  captured  Calais,  1347; 
made  peace  after  the  victory  of  Poitiers,  1356;  but  subsequently  lost 
nearly  all  that  he  had  gained;  died  1377.] 

Honi  soit  qui  mal  y  pense. 

The  motto  of  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  which  owes  its  origin 
to  Edward  III.  With  a  view  of  recovering  what  England  once 
held  in  France,  he  was  eager  to  draw  the  best  soldiers  of  Europe 
into  his  interest,  and  therefore  projected  the  revival  of  King 
Arthur's  "Round  Table."  For  this  purpose  he  invited  for- 
eigners and  subjects  of  quality  and  courage  to  a  tournament  on 
Kew  Year's  Day,  1344,  a  table  being  erected  in  Windsor  Castle 
of  two  hundred  feet  in  diameter,  at  which  the  knights  were  to 
be  entertained  at  the  king's  expense.  This  festival  excited  the 
jealousy  of  Philip  of  France,  who  not  only  prohibited  his  sub- 
jects from  attending  the  Round  Table  at  Windsor,  but  pro- 
claimed one  to  be  held  by  himself  at  Paris.  The  English 
tournament  thus  losing  something  of  its  prestige,  Edward  estab- 
lished the  Order  of  the  Garter,  April  23,  1349,  the  motto  of 
which,  "  Honi  soil  qui  mal  y  pense  "  (Evil  be  to  him  who  evil 
thinks  of  it),  seems  to  apply  to  the  possible  misrepresentation 
which  the  king  of  France  might  throw  out  concerning  the  order, 
as  he  had  already  done  concerning  the  festival  of  the  Round 
Table.  —  SIR  W.  SCOTT  :  Essay  on  Chivalry.  The  garter  may 
have  been  selected  as  the  badge  of  the  order,  from  the  fact  that 
Edward  had  given  his  own  for  the  signal  of  a  battle  (supposed  to 
be  Crecy),  which  had  been  crowned  with  success.  Popular  tradi- 


LORD   ELDON.  195 


tion  is  the  only  authority  for  the  story  that  the  king  picked  up 
at  a  ball  the  garter  of  the  Countess  of  Salisbury,  and,  replying  to 
the  smiles  of  the  courtiers  with  the  remark,  "  Those  who  laugh 
will  be  proud  to  wear  a  similar  one,"  founded  the  order,  upon 
the  ribbon  of  which  he  placed  the  old  French  motto,  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  "  Acta  Sanctorum,"  III.,  was  proverbial  in  France 
before  Edward's  day. 

Lord  Bridgewater,  as  proud  of  his  horses  as  of  his  decoration 
of  the  garter,  wrote  over  the  door  of  his  stable,  "  Honni  soil  qui 
mat  y  PANSE"  (from  panser,  to  groom  a  horse).  On  the  return  of 
M.  de  Lauraguais  from  a  visit  of  philosophical  study  at  London, 
Louis  XY.  asked  him  what  he  went  there  for.  "  Apprendre  a 
penser,  sire."  —  "Horses?"  (Les  chevaux?)  inquired  the  king,  with 
the  same  pun  on  penser. 

LOUD  ELDON. 

[John  Scott,  first  Earl  of  Eldon;  born  in  Newcastle,  England,  1751; 
educated  at  Oxford;  called  to  the  bar,  1776;  entered  Parliament,  1783; 
solicitor-general,  1788;  attorney-general,  1793;  chief  justice  of  the 
common  pleas,  1791,  and  raised  to  the  peerage;  lord  chancellor,  1801, 
which  office  he  held  twenty-six  years,  with  one  year's  interruption; 
retired  1827;  died  1838.] 

New  brooms  sweep  clean. 

By  way  of  apology,  after  Henry  Brougham,  who  objected  to 
Lord  Eldon's  continually  calling  him  Mr.  Broffam,  had  made  an 
able  argument. 

The  applicant  for  a  living  answered  the  lord  chancellor,  -who 
asked  him  in  whose  name  he  applied,  "In  the  name  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts."  —  "  The  Lord  of  hosts  ! "  exclaimed  Eldon  :  "  you 

t/ 

are  the  first  person  who  ever  applied  to  me  in  that  lord's  name ; 
and,  although  his  title  can't  be  found  in  the  Peerage,  you  shall 
have  the  living." 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

[Queen  of  England;  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Anne  Boleyn; 
born  at  Greenwich,  Sept.  7,  1533;  committed  to  the  Tower  by  her 
sister  Mary,  but  removed  to  Woodstock;  proclaimed  queen,  1588; 
signed  the  death-warrant  of  Mary  Stuart;  supported  the  Protestants 
of  the  Low  Countries;  defended  England  against  the  Invincible 
Armada,  1588;  died  1603.] 


196  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

I  have  desired  to  have  the  obedience  of  my  subjects 
by  love,  and  not  by  compulsion. 

A  declaration  to  Parliament,  like  that  on  her  accession  to  the 
throne  :  "  Nothing,  no  worldly  thing  under  the  sun,  is  so  dear  to 
me  as  the  love  and  good-will  of  my  subjects."  On  receiving  the 
news  at  Hatfield  of  her  accession  to  the  throne,  when  but  a  short 
time  before  she  had  been  the  object  of  her  sister's  suspicions, 
Elizabeth  exclaimed,  "  It  is  the  Lord's  doing,  and  it  is  marvel- 
lous in  our  eyes  ! " 

Her  marriage  early  engaged  the  attention  of  her  subjects ;  and 
in  answer  to  a  petition  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1559,  that 
she  would  consider  the  matter  favorably,  she  replied,  "For  me 
it  will  be  enough  that  a  marble  stone  should  declare  that  a 
queen  having  reigned  such  a  time  lived  and  died  a  virgin."  — 
HUME:  History  of  England,  chap,  xxxviii.  In  the  same  year, 
however,  she  declared,  on  hearing  that  the  dauphin,  afterwards 
Francis  II.  of  France,  was  about  to  be  proclaimed  king  of  Eng- 
land on  his  marriage  with  Mary  Stuart,  "  I  will  take  a  husband 
who  will  make  the  king  of  France's  head  ache ;  and  he  little 
knows  what  a  buffet  I  can  give  him."  She  said  in  reference  to 
any  possible  attack  by  the  French,  "  In  times  of  danger  it  is  the 
custom  of  England  to  arm." 

She  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  marriage  of  the  clergy,  and 
took  leave  of  the  wife  of  Archbishop  Parker,  after  an  entertain- 
ment in  the  episcopal  palace  at  Lambeth,  with  the  words,  "  And 
you,  madam  I  may  not  call  you ;  mistress  I  am  ashamed  to  call 
you:  so  I  know  not  what  to  call  you,  but  yet  I  do  thank  you." 
On  another  occasion  she  remarked  to  Dr.  Whitehead,  "  I  like 
thee  better  because  thou  livest  unmarried ; "  to  which  he  bluntly 
replied,  "  I  like  you  the  worse  for  the  same  cause." 

Ye  be  burly,  my  Lord  of  Burghley,  but  ye  shall  make 
less  stir  in  our  realm  than  my  Lord  of  Leicester. 

An  example  of  the  royal  punning  of  those  days ;  to  which  may 
be  compared  that  of  her  successor,  James  I.,  when  meeting  for 
the  first  time  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  :  "  By  my  saul,  maun,  I  have 
heard  but  rawly  of  thee  ! '' 

When  offended  at  the  conduct  of  the  Earl  of  Leicester,  who 
was  sent  to  the  Low  Countries  with  English  auxiliaries  in  1585, 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


but  was  accused  of  ambitious  designs  inconsistent  with  his  duty' 
as  a  subject,  she  had  other  language  than  a  pun  :  "  I  will  let  the 
upstart  know  how  easily  the  hand  which  has  exalted  him  can 
bear  him  down  to  the  dust." 

She  said  of  her  instructions  to  the  great  officers  of  state,  "  They 
are  like  garments,  strait  at  first  putting  on,  but  by  and  by  loose 
enough." 

Speak,  good  mouth  ! 

When  the  mayor  of  Bristol  said,  on  welcoming  her,  "  I  am  the 
mouth  of  the  town,"  and  then  stopped  short. 

The  Bishop  of  Ely  hesitated  to  alienate  to  Sir  Christopher 
Hatton,  according  to  agreement,  ground  in  Holborn  belonging 
to  that  see,  now  called  Hatton  Garden.  He  hesitated  no  longer, 
however,  after  the  following  vigorously  expressed  threat  of  her 
Majesty :  "  If  you  do  not  forthwith  fulfil  your  engagement,  by 
G — ,  I  will  immediately  unfrock  you !  " 

Sir  Walter  Raleigh  made  a  wager  with  the  queen  that  he 
could  weigh  the  smoke  from  his  tobacco-pipe.  He  weighed 
the  tobacco  before  smoking,  and  the  ashes  afterwards.  When 
Elizabeth  paid  the  wager,  she  said,  "I  have  seen  many  a  man 
turn  his  gold  into  smoke,  but  you  are  the  first  who  has  turned 
his  smoke  into  gold." 

The  Queen  of  Scots  is  the  mother  of  a  fair  son,  and 
I  but  a  barren  stock. 

On  hearing  of  the  birth  of  James  VI.,  in  June,  1566. 

When  told  by  the  Scotch  ambassador  that  Mary  Stuart  was 
taller  than  she,  Elizabeth  remarked,  "  Then  she  must  be  too  tall, 
because  I  am  neither  too  tall  nor  too  short."  Elizabeth  replied 
to  the  urgent  request  of  Mary  to  recognize  her  right  to  the  suc- 
cession, "I  am  not  so  foolish  as  to  hang  a  winding-sheet  before 
my  eyes."  When  advised  to  go  less  abroad  on  account  of  the 
conspiracies  which  Mary's  partisans  were  continually  forming 
against  her,  she  answered  that  "  she  would  rather  be  dead  than 
in  custody ;  "  but  she  showed  her  knowledge  of  the  origin  of 
the  conspiracies  by  declaring  to  her  rival,  "Your  actions  are  as 
full  of  venom  as  your  words  are  of  honey."  Much  earlier  than 
this,  she  had  been  told  that  she  would  have  no  rest  while  Mary 


196  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


lived ;  but  she  asked,  referring  to  Mary's  own  troubles  at  home, 
if  she  could  put  to  death  "the  bird,  that,  to  escape  pursuit  of  the 
hawk,  has  fled  to  my  feet  for  protection."  When,  however,  the 
truth  of  her  ministers'  representations  became  clear  to  her,  she 
signed  the  death-warrant  of  her  deposed  rival,  muttering  to  her- 
self, loud  enough  to  be  overheard,  while  hesitating  to  affix  her 
signature,  such  words  as,  "  Aut  fer  aut  feri"  (Bear  with  her  or 
smite  her),  "  Ne  fereari,  feri"  (Strike,  lest  thou  be  stricken). 

Xapoleon  translated  the  words  into  French,  when  he  said, 
"//  nous  fallut  abattre,  sous  peine  d'etre  abattus." 

"In  this  world  a  man  must  be  either  hammer  or  anvil."  — 
LONGFELLOW  :  Hyperion,  IV.  ch.  7. 

The  death  of  Mary  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  her  father,  James 
V. :  "It  came  wi'  a  lass,  and  it'll  gang  wi'  a  lass."  The  crown 
came  with  Margaret  Bruce,  who  married  the  father  of  the  first 
Stuart. 

Let  tyrants  fear. 

To  the  troops  assembled  at  Tilbury  to  oppose  the  Invincible 
Armada,  in  1588,  Elizabeth  made  a  spirited  address,  beginning, 
"  Let  tyrants  fear.  I  have  always  so  behaved  myself,  that,  under 
God,  I  have  placed  my  chiefest  strength  and  safeguard  in  the 
loyal  hearts  and  good-will  of  my  subjects  ;  and  therefore  I  am 
come  among  you,  as  you  see,  resolved  in  the  midst  and  heat  of 
the  battle  to  live  and  die  amongst  you.  I  know  that  I  have  but 
the  body  of  a  weak  and  feeble  woman ;  but  I  have  the  heart  of 
a  king,  and  of  a  king  of  England  too." 

When  Speaker  Croke  alluded,  in  1601,  to  the  Armada  having 
been  driven  off  "by  the  mighty  arm  of  our  dear  and  sacred 
queen,"  Elizabeth  interrupted  him  :  "  No,  Mr.  Speaker,  but  by 
the  mighty  hand  of  God." 

He  who  placed  me  in  this  seat  will  preserve  me  in  it. 

Of  the  treasonable  attempt  of  the  Earl  of  Essex,  in  1601. 
Her  affection  for  this  gallant  and  unfortunate  nobleman  is  well 
known ;  but  later  writers  do  not  entirely  credit  the  story  of  the 
rebuke  given  by  the  queen,  in  1003,  to  the  dying  Countess  of 
Nottingham,  who  confessed  that  she  had  not  returned  the  ring 
given  by  Elizabeth  to  Essex  with  the  intimation  that  if  he  ever 


ELIZABETH   OF  BOHEMIA.  109 


forfeited  her  favor  the  sight  of  the  ring  would  insure  her  for- 
giveness of  him.  The  queen  even  shook  the  dying  countess, 
exclaiming,  "God  may  forgive  you,  but  I  never  can."  —  HUME: 
History  of  England,  chap.  xliv. 

When  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  urged  her,  on  the  last 
day  of  her  life,  March  23,  1603,  to  turn  her  thoughts  to  God,  she 
replied,  "Never  has  my  mind  wandered  from  him." — Ibid. 

She  may  have  answered,  in  reply  to  the  question,  who  should 
succeed  her,  "I  will  have  no  rascal's  son  in  my  seat,"  alluding 
to  Lord  Beauchamp,  son  of  the  attainted  Earl  of  Suffolk;  but 
that  she  asked,  "Who  shall  succeed  me  but  a  king?"  referring 
to  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  has  little  or  no  authority;  it  being- 
more  credible,  that,  when  his  name  was  mentioned,  she  merely 
nodded  in  token  of  assent. 

Dr.  Johnson  said  of  Queen  Elizabeth, "  She  had  learning  enough 
to  have  given  dignity  to  a  bishop." 

ELIZABETH  OF  BOHEMIA. 

[Elizabeth  Stuart,  daughter  of  James  I.  of  England;  born  1596; 
married  the  Elector  Palatine,  Frederick  V.,  1613;  persuaded  him  to 
accept  the  crown  of  Bohemia;  it  involved  him  in  a  contest  with  the 
emperor  of  Germany,  which  opened  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  in 
which  Frederick  lost  both  his  crown  and  the  hereditary  electorate. 
After  his  death  Elizabeth  returned  to  England,  and  died,  1662.] 

I  would  rather  eat  a  dry  crust  at  a  king's  table  than 
feast  on  luxuries  at  that  of  an  elector. 

This  was  said  when  urging  her  husband  to  accept  the  crown 
of  Bohemia,  which  the  nobles  of  that  country  had  offered  him. 
She  imagined  that  the  magnificence  of  Prague  would  surpass  the 
luxury  of  the  electoral  establishment  of  Heidelberg  Castle,  splen- 
did now  even  in  its  ruin.  The  royal  title  itself  attracted  her. 
"You  would  not,"  she  said  to  Frederick,  "have  married  a  king's 
daughter  if  you  had  not  the  courage  to  become  yourself  a  king." 
Her  ambition  equalled  her  beauty.  "  To  reign  is  glorious,"  she 
declared,  "were  it  only  for  a  moment."  Frederick  had  a  clearer 
view  of  the  situation.  "  If  I  accept,"  he  said,  "  I  shall  be  accused 
of  ambition  ;  if  I  decline,  of  cowardice.  Decide  as  I  may,  peace 
is  over  for  me  and  my  country."  Other  royal  personages,  how- 


200  LORD  ELLENBOROUGH. 

ever,  have  shared  Elizabeth's  sentiment.  Napoleon  said  to  his 
brother  Louis,  who  urged  his  poor  health  against  taking  the 
crown  of  Holland,  "Better  to  die  a  king  than  to  live  a  prince." 
Theodora,  the  infamous  wife  of  the  Emperor  Justinian,  replied 
to  the  threats  of  the  factions  of  Byzantium,  "  For  my  part,  I 
adhere  to  the  maxim  of  antiquity,  '  The  throne  is  a  glorious 
sepulchre/1 

The  devotion  of  the  princes  who  supported  "the  Winter 
King"  and  "the  Queen  of  Hearts,"  as  Frederick  and  Eliza- 
beth were  respectively  called,  was  illustrated  by  Christian  of 
Brunswick,  "  the  mad  Brunswicker,"  whose  motto  was,  "  Filr 
Gott  und  fur  sie"  (For  God  and  her),  or,  as  he  wrote  in  a 
French  album,  "  Tout  pour  Dieu  et  ma  chere  reine  "  (All  for  God 
and  my  dear  queen).  Carlyle  calls  him  "a  high-flown,  fiery 
young  fellow,  of  terrible  fighting  gifts.  He  flamed  up  consid- 
erably, with  the  queen  of  Bohemia's  glove  stuck  in  his  hat : 
'  Bright  lady,  it  shall  stick  there  till  I  get  you  your  own  again, 
or  die  ! '  "  —  Frederick  II.,  III.  16.  The  banner  of  Bernhard  of 
Saxe- Weimar,  the  successor  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  is  said  to  have  borne  a  similar 
motto  :  "  Allesfur  Rulim  und  sie  "  (All  for  glory  and  her). 

LOUD  ELLENBOROUGH. 

[Edward  Law,  an  eminent  English  judge;  born  in  Cumberland, 
1750;  leading  counsel  for  "Warren  Hastings,  1788;  attorney-general, 
1801;  chief-justice  of  the  Bong's  Bench,  1802,  and  raised  to  the  peer- 
age; died  1818.] 

Mr.  Preston,  we  are  bound  to  hear  you,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  do  so  on  Friday ;  but,  alas !  pleasure  has  been 
long  out  of  the  question. 

To  Mr.  Preston,  the  famous  conveyancer,  who  in  arguing  a 
case  had  not  exhausted  the  "Year-Books  "  by  evening,  and  applied 
to  know  when  it  would  be  their  lordships'  pleasure  to  hear  the 
remainder  of  his  argument.  Another  tiresome  conveyancer, 
having,  toward  the  end  of  Easter  Term,  occupied  the  court  an 
entire  day  about  the  merger  of  a  term,  the  chief-justice  said  to 
him,  "  I  am  afraid,  sir,  the  term,  although  a  long  one,  will  merge 
in  your  argument."  —  CAMPBELL  :  Life,  chap.  li. 


LORD  ELLENBOROUGH.  201 

A  smartly  dressed  Quaker  came  into  court,  and,  when  tendered 
the  Bible,  demanded  to  be  allowed  to  affirm.  As  he  did  not 
wear  the  distinguishing  features  of  his  sect,  Ellenborough  asked 
him,  "  Do  you  really  mean  to  impose  upon  the  court  by  appearing 
here  in  the  disguise  of  a  reasonable  being?"  This  reminds  one 
of  Talleyrand,  who  said  to  Mme.  de  Stae'l  of  her  "Delphine," 
which  was  thought  to  contain  a  caricature  of  him  in  the  charac- 
ter of  an  old  woman,  "  That  is  the  book,  is  it  not,  in  which  you 
and  I  are  exhibited  in  the  disguise  of  females?  "  The  masculine 
character  of  the  authoress  gave  point  to  the  question. 

Of  Michael  Angelo  Taylor,  who,  though  very  short  of  stature, 
says  Campbell,  was  well  knit,  and  thought  himself  a  very  great 
man,  Lord  Ellenborough  said,  "  His  father,  the  sculptor,  had 
fashioned  him  for  a  pocket-Hercules."  —  Ibid. 

Erskine  urged  Ellenborough  to  take  the  Great  Seal,  while  the 
latter  knew  that  if  he  refused  it,  it  would  be  offered,  to  Erskine  : 
he  therefore  twitted  the  great  advocate  upon  his  ignorance  of 
equity  by  the  question,  "How  can  you  ask  me  to  accept  the  office 
of  lord  chancellor,  when  I  know  as  little  of  its  duties  as  you 
do  V  " 

You  may  go  on,  sir :  so  far,  the  court  is  quite  with 
you. 

A  young  counsel,  who  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  very  im- 
pudent fellow,  began  his  speech,  "  The  unfortunate  client,  who 
appears  by  me,"  —  and,  after  repeating  it  two  or  three  times,    / 
stopped  short.     "You  may  go  on,  sir,"  said  Ellenborough,  in  his 
mildest  tone :  "so  far,  the  court  is  quite  with  you."  —  Ibid. 

The  demagogue  Hunt  began  his  address  in  mitigation  of  pun- 
ishment for  sedition,  by  complaining  that  he  had  been,  accused 
of  "  dangerous  eloquence  ;  "  when  Ellenborough  interrupted  him 
by  saying,  "My  impartiality  as  a  judge  calls  upon  me,  sir,  to 
say,  that,  in  accusing  you  of  that,  they  do  you  great  injustice." 
Ibid. 

A  tedious  bishop  having  yawned  during  his  own  speech,  Lord 
Ellenborough  remarked.  "Come,  come,  the  fellow  shows  some 
symptoms  of  taste  ;  but  this  is  encroaching  on  our  province." 

Handle  Jackson,  a  declamatory  speaker,  who  despised  techni- 
calities, and  relied  on  his  eloquence,  began  his  argument,  "  In 


202  DUG   D'EXGHIEN. 


the  book  of  nature  it  is  written" — "Be  good  enough,  sir,"  broke 
in  the  chief-justice,  "to  mention  the  page  from  which  you  are 
about  to  quote." 

When  told  that  the  penurious  Lord  Kenyon  was  dying, 
"Die?"  asked  Ellenborough,  "what  will  he  get  by  that?" 
Lord  Campbell  says  that  he  often  heard  the  traditional  descrip- 
tion of  the  large,  gloomy  house  which  Lord  Kenyou  occupied  in 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields  :  "  All  the  year  through,  it  is  Lent  in  the 
kitchen,  and  Passion  Week  in  the  parlor."  Some  one  having 
mentioned,  that,  although  the  fire  was  very  dull  in  the  kitchen- 
grate,  the  spits  were  always  bright;  "It  is  quite  irrelevant,"  said 
Jekyll,  "to  talk  about  the  spits,  for  nothing  turns  upon  them." 
Being  told  that  the  motto  "  Mors  Janua  Vita,"  put  up  in  the 
hatchment  over  Lord  Kenyon's  house  after  his  death,  was  a 
mistake  of  the  printer  (for  vitce)  ;  "Mistake!  "  exclaimed  Ellen- 
borough,  "it  is  no  mistake.  The  considerate  testator  left 
particular  directions  in  his  will  that  the  estate  should  not  be 
burdened  with  the  expense  of  a  diphthong." — Life  of  Kenyan, 
chap.  xlv. 

&UC   D'ENGHIEN. 

[Louis  Antoine  Henri  de  Bourbon,  son  of  the  Due  de  Bourbon, 
and.  related  to  the  royal  family  of  France;  born  1772;  emigrated 
1789;  fought  against  the  army  of  the  republic  until  1801;  retired  to 
Baden,  where  he  was  arrested  by  order  of  Napoleon;  after  a  hurried 
trial  by  a  military  tribunal  at  Paris,  was  shot,  March,  1804.] 

I  die  for  my  king  and  for  France! 

His  last  words.  It  was  of  this  political  murder  that  Fouche 
in  his  posthumous  "Memoirs"  claimed  to  have  originated  the 
mot  usually  translated,  "It  is  worse  than  a  crime,  it  is  a  blunder" 
(C'est  plus  qu'un  crime,  c'cst  line  faute).  The  authenticity  of  the 
"  Memoirs  "  was  denied  by  his  family ;  and  the  remark  is  often 
attributed  to  Talleyrand,  who  could  hardly  have  uttered  it,  if  he 
was,  as  Napoleon  asserted  at  St.  Helena,  "  the  active  cause  and 
principal  instrument  of  the  duke's  death."  Long  before  that 
time,  March  6,  1809,  the  emperor  told  Roederer  that  Talleyrand 
informed  him  where  the  duke  could  be  found ;  and  that,  after  ad- 
vising his  death,  he  groaned  over  it  among  all  his  acquaintances. 


DUG  D'ENGIIIEN.  203 


This  Sainte-Beuve  considered  decisive  of  Talleyrand's  participa- 
tion in  the  discovery  and  execution  of  the  prince,  but  it  is  not 
impossible  that  among  his  "groans"  the  remark  in  question  was 
uttered.  Napoleon  said  to  O'Meara  at  St.  Helena,  "I  have 
doubtless  erred  more  or  less  in  politics,  but  a  crime  I  never  com- 
mitted ; "  and,  while  he  did  not  mention  Enghien,  he  said  that 
Talleyrand  advised  him  to  do  every  thing  he  could  against  the 
Bourbons,  "whom  he  detests."  One  remark  attributed  to  Tal- 
leyrand in  this  connection,  when  Bonaparte  expressed  a  desire 
to  see  the  duke  before  his  execution,  was,  "  Don't  compromise 
yourself  with  a  Bourbon :  the  wine  is  drawn,  it  must  be  drunk  " 
(N'allez  pas  vous  compromettre  avec  un  Bourbon :  le  vin  est  tire,  il 
faut  le  boire).  Napoleon  stated  to  O'Meara  that  the  Due 
d'Enghien  wrote  him  a  letter  offering  him  his  services,  which 
Talleyrand  kept  back  until  two  days  after  the  execution.  This 
Lanfrey  ("  Life  of  Napoleon,"  IF.  9)  calls  "  a  twofold  and  shame- 
ful calumny"  against  Talleyrand  and  the  duke. 

Mine,  de  Remusat,  who  writes  with  as  strong  a  friendship  for 
Talleyrand  as  Lanfrey's  hostility  to  Napoleon,  denies  that  the 
former  approved  of  the  execution :  "  His  enemies  and  Bona- 
parte himself  have  accused  him  of  having  advised  the  murder  of 
the  unfortunate  prince ;  but  .Bonaparte  and  his  enemies  can  be 
proved  to  be  in  error  on  this  point.  The  known  character  of 
M.  de  Talleyrand  hardly  admits  the  possibility  of  such  violence. 
He  has  told  me  more  than  once  that  Bonaparte  had  informed 
him,  as  well  as  the  two  consuls,  of  the  arrest  of  the  Due 
d'Enghien,  and  of  his  unchanging  determination:  he  added, that 
all  three  of  them  had  seen  the  uselessness  of  words,  and  had 
kept  silence."  -Memoirs,  i.  4.  Mine,  de  Remusat  goes  on  to 
say,  that,  a  few  days  after  the  first  return  of  Louis  XVIII. ,  the 
Duke  de  Rovigo  (Savary,  Napoleon's  aide-de-camp,  and  minister 
of  police  after  Fouche),  knowing  her  intimacy  with  Talleyrand, 
gave  her  an  account  of  the  arrest  of  Enghien,  by  which  it  seems 
that  he  had  been  mistaken  for  Pichegru  by  the  conspirators  in 
league  with  Georges,  one  of  whom  had  given  the  information 
which  led  to  the  duke's  arrest,  and  that  when  Bonaparte  was 
told  of  the  error  he  cried  out,  "  Ah,  the  wretch  !  AVhat  has  he 
made  me  do  ?  "  Lanfrey  calls  this  "  the  impudent  story  of 
Savary." 


204  DUG   D'EPERNON. 


It  is  not  strange  that  the  names  of  both  Fouche'  and  Talleyrand 
have  been  connected  with  the  mot  concerning  the  death  of  the 
Due  d'Enghien,  when  Xapoleon  found  sufficient  resemblance 
between  them  to  say  at  St.  Helena,  "  Fouche  was  the  Talleyrand 
of  the  clubs,  and  Talleyrand  was  the  Fouche  of  the  drawing- 


rooms." 


DUC  D'EPERNON. 

[Louis  de  Nogaret  de  la  Valletta,  Due  d'Epernon,  a  noted  French 
courtier;  born  in  Languedoc,  1554;  a  favorite  of  Henry  III.,  who 
appointed  him  high  admiral  of  France;  was  in  the  carriage  with 
Henry  IV.  when  the  latter  was  assassinated;  died  1642.] 

You  are  going  up,  I  am  coming  down. 

The  credit  of  the  duke,  who  held  high  office  under  more 
than  one  sovereign  of  France,  waned  before  the  growing  power 
of  Cardinal  Richelieu.  Their  relative  position  during  the  early 
part  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII.  was  marked  by  the  answer 
which  the  duke,  who  was  one  day  descending  the  staircase  of 
the  palace  of  St.  Germain,  gave  the  cardinal,  who  was  going  up, 
and  asked  him  the  news  :  "  You,  sir,  are  going  up,  I  am  coming 
down"  (Monsieur,  vous  montez,  je  descends}.  This  is  also  told  of 
Prince  Galitzin,  meeting  his  successor,  Potemkin,  the  favorite  of 
Catherine  II.  of  Russia. 

DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS. 

[A  celebrated  scholar  and  philosopher;  born  at  Rotterdam,  Oct. 
28,  1465  or  1467;  became  a  monk,  1486;  secretary  to  the  Bishop  of 
Cambrai  for  five  years,  after  which  he  studied  in  Paris  and  Italy; 
visited  England,  1498;  published  an  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament, 
1516;  satirized  the  Roman  Church,  but  shrank  from  the  radicalism  of 
Luther;  removed  to  Basle,  where  he  published  his  "Colloquies," 
1522;  died  July  12, 1536.] 

A  disadvantageous  peace  is  better  than  the  most  just 
war. 

So  Luther  declared  that  "a  wicked  tyrant  is  better  than  a 
wicked  war."  Cromwell  changed  the  opinion  he  once  expressed, 
that,  "were  Nero  in  power,  it  would  be  a  duty  to  submit." 


JOHN  SCOTUS  ERIGEXA.  205 

Charles  James  Fox  preferred  "  the  hardest  terms  of  peace  to  tlie 
most  just  war."  Franklin  wrote  to  Josiah  Quincy,  Sept.  11, 1773, 
"  There  never  was  a  good  war  or  a  bad  peace." 

Erasmus  pithily  said  of  theological  strife,  "  It  is  not  the  same 
to  be  a  wise  man  and  a  theologian  "  (Non  idem  est  theoloyum  esse 
et  sapere). 

AVhile  he  was  studying  in  Paris,  and  was  very  poor,  he  wrote 
to  a  friend,  "As  soon  as  I  get  money  I  will  buy,  first,  Greek 
books,  and  then  clothes." 

My  heart  is  Catholic,  but  my  stomach  Lutheran. 

Of  his  dislike  of  fish. 

He  said  of  Luther,  "  He  was  guilty  of  two  great  crimes,  — 
he  has  struck  the  Pope  in  his  crown,  and  the  monks  in  their 
belly." 

He  founjjl  on  his  visit  to  England  that  Cardinal  Wolsey  in- 
vited learned  men  to  the  entertainments  at  his  palace  of  Hamp- 
ton Court.  A  scholar  himself,  he  esteemed  the  prelate  the  most 
honored  by  what  was  undoubtedly  considered  a  condescension. 
"  O  happy  cardinal,"  exclaimed  Erasmus,  "  who  can  surround 
his  table  with  such  torches  !  " 

Like  charity,  it  covers  a  multitude  of  sins.  —  1  Pet.  iv.  8. 

Of  the  hood  (capuchon)  from  which  the  Capuchins,  the  mendi- 
cant friars  of  the  Franciscan  order,  took  their  name. 

Voltaire  said  of  their  costume,  "It  can  only  excite  the  con- 
tempt of  the  wise,  edify  good  women,  and  frighten  children." 

During  a  persecution  of  Protestants  under  Adrian  VI.,  in 
1523-24,  Erasmus  said,  "Wherever  the  legate  heaps  fagots,  it  is 
as  if  he  sowed  heretics."  Leo  X.  declared,  "  Erasmus  injured  us 
more  by  his  wit  than  Luther  by  his  anger  "  (Erasmus  nobis  plus 
nocuit  jocando,  quam  Lutherus  stomachando). 

JOHN    SCOTUS    ERIGENA. 

[A  philosopher,  born  in  Ireland;  passed  most  of  his  life  in  France, 
where  he  was  celebrated  for  classical  learning  and  subtlety  in  scho- 
lastic disputation ;  sought  refuge  from  church  difficulties  with  Alfred 
the  Great;  died  about  875  A.D.] 


206  LORD  ERSKIXE. 


The  table  only. 

When  Charles  the  Bald  of  France,  who  sat  opposite  to  him  at 
dinner,  asked  Scotus  what  the  difference  was  between  a  Scot  and 
a  sot  (<mid  intersit  inter  Scotum  et  sotuni),  he  replied,  "  The  table 
only"  (Me nsa  tantum). 

LOUD  ERSKINE. 

[Thomas  Erskine,  an  eminent  British  advocate  ;  born  in  Edin- 
burgh, January,  1750;  entered  the  navy,  and  afterwards  purchased 
a  commission  in  the  army;  studied  law,  and  was  called  to  the  bar, 
1778;  defended  the  libel  and  treason  cases;  entered  Parliament,  1783; 
lord  chancellor,  and  raised  to  the  peerage,  1806;  retired,  1807;  died 
November,  1823.] 

You  will  be  hanged  if  you  do. 

When  Thelwall,  on  trial  for  high  treason,  during  the  exam- 
ination of  a  witness  for  the  prosecution,  wrote  on  a  slip  of  paper, 
and  sent  it  over  to  Erskine,  "  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  don't  plead  my 
own  cause,"  his  counsel  replied  in  the  same  manner,  "  You  will 
be  hanged  if  you  do."  Thelwall  then  wrote,  "Then  I'll  be 
hanged  if  I  do." 

He  was  told  that  one  of  his  acquaintance  had  died  worth  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds.  "  That's  a  pretty  sum  to  begin  the 
next  world  with,"  remarked  Erskine. 

He  had  the  following  unique  form  of  replying  to  begging  let- 
ters :  "  Sir,  I  feel  honored  by  your  application,  and  I  beg  to  sub- 
scribe [here  the  reader  had  to  turn  over  the  leaf]  myself,  your 
very  obedient  servant." 

"  That  which  is  called  firmness  in  a  king,"  he  once  said,  "  is 
called  obstinacy  in  a  donkey." 

The  older  a  lamb   grows,   the  more  sheepish  he  be- 
comes. 

When  counsellor  Lamb  said  he  felt  himself  growing  more  and 
more  timid  as  he  grew  older. 

Sydney  Smith  once  commented  on  his  prevailing  article  of 
diet :  "We  have  had  so  much  mutton  lately,  that  I  dare  not  look 
a  sheep  in  the  face." 

"When  the  hour  comes  when  all  things  are  revealed,"  said 


CARDINAL  D'ESTE.  207 

Erskine,  "we  shall  know  the  reason-- why  shoes  are  made  too 
tight." 

His  friend,  Mr.  Maylem,  told  him  that  his  physician  had  or- 
dered him  not  to  bathe.  "  Oh  !  then  you  are  malum  proldltitum" 
replied  Erskine.  "  My  wife,  however,  does  bathe,"  added  his 
friend.  "  Worse  still,"  was  the  advocate's  quick  rejoinder  ;  "for 
she  is  malum  in  se  !  " 

When  asked,  while  lord  chancellor,  whether  he  would  attend 
the  ministerial  whitebait  dinner  at  Greenwich ;  "  To  be  sure  I 
will,"  he  replied.  "  What  would  your  fish  dinner  be  without  the 
Great  Seal?" 

The  only  use  of  an  oath  in  parliamentary  debate  occurs  in  a 
very  vigorous  speech  which  Lord  Erskine  made  in  opposition  to 
the  Seditious  Meetings  Bill,  in  the  session  of  1795-96  :  "For  my 
own  part,  I  shall  never  cease  to  struggle  in  support  of  liberty. 
In  no  situation  will  I  desert  the  cause.  I  was  born  a  free  man, 
and,  by  G ,  I  will  never  die  a  slave !  " 

CARDINAL  D'ESTE. 

[Hippolito  d'Este,  an  Italian  prelate,  noted  for  his  patronage  of 
learning;  brother  of  Alfonso,  Duke  of  Modena;  born  1479;  died  1520.] 

Se  non  e  vero,  &  ben  trovato. 

Of  the  "Orlando  Furioso,"  which  Ariosto,  who  had  been  for 
a  long  time  in  his  service,  dedicated  to  him,  Cardinal  d'Este  is 
reported  to  have  said,  "  If  it  is  not  true,  it  is  certainly  well 
invented."  The  saying  is  a  proverbial  one,  and  has  passed  with- 
out translation  into  the  literature  of  all  nations.  Biichinann  can 
find  no  other  authority,  however,  for  the  origin  of  the  proverb 
than  the  anonymous  author  of  "Grosse  Leute,  Kleine  Schwachen," 
and  thinks  it  may  have  been  translated  into  Italian  from  the 
close  of  the  first  part  of  "  Don  Quixote,"  where  Cervantes  says 
that  on  the  favorable  reception  of  his  work  he  will  feel  en- 
couraged to  seek  after  other  adventures  which  may  be  quite  as 
entertaining,  though  not  so  true  (Bk.  I.  chap.  Hi.). 

When  asked  how  he  could  be  satisfied  with  a  small  house  that 
he  had  built,  after  having  described  such  magnificent  palaces  in 
his  "  Orlando,"  Ariosto  replied,  "  Words  are  cheaper  than  stones." 


208  EUCLID. 


EUCLID. 

[The  Greek  geometer  of  Alexandria;  taught  mathematics  in  the 
reign  of  the  first  Ptolemy,  323  B.C.] 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  geometry. 

When  asked  by  Ptolemy  if  the  science  could  not  be  mastered 
by  some  easier  method  than  the  ordinary  one.  Dr.  Johnson  said, 
"I  hate  by-roads  in  education."  —  BOSWELL  :  Life,  1775.  It 
was  a  maxim  of  Dr.  Parr's,  "  Greek  and  Latin  are  consecrated 
temples  which  are  only  to  be  entered  through  the  vestibule." 
Plato  wrote  over  the  entrance  to  the  Academy,  "  He  who  is 
ignorant  of  geometry  may  remain  outside ;  "  which  led  Goethe 
to  call  it  "the  door  of  philosophy." 

EMPRESS  EUGENIE. 

.  [Eugenie  Marie  de  Monti  jo;  born  at  Grenada,  Spain,  May  5,  182G; 
educated  in  France  and  England  ;  attracted,  by  her  beauty  and 
graces,  the  attention  of  Napoleon  III.,  to  whom  she  was  married 
January,  1852;  after  the  fall  of  the  empire  resided  in  England.] 

No,  sire:  it  is  French  which  has  taught  me  love  (c'est 
le  Franqais  qui  irfappris  V amour). 

When  asked  by  Louis  Xapoleon,  when  Prince  President,  if 
love  had  taught  her  French. 

She  made  another  graceful  answer  when  visiting  the  hospital 
of  Amiens  during  the  cholera,  in  1866  :  "  It  is  our  manner  of 
going  under  fire." 

Seeing  that  the  victory  of  Prussia  over  Austria  in  1866  threat- 
ened to  destroy  the  prestige  of  France,  the  Empress  exclaimed, 
pointing  to  the  Prince  Imperial,  "  That  child  will  never  reign,  if 
nothing  be  done  to  efface  Sadowa."  She  is  therefore  supposed 
to  have  urged  the  declaration  of  war  by  France  against  Prussia 
in  1870,  and  even  to  have  said  of  it,  "  This  is  my  war  "  (C'est  ma 
guerre  a  moi).  When  the  early  victories  of  the  German  army 
made  it  probable  that  Italy  would  seize  the  opportunity  to  enter 
Rome,  and  deprive  the  Pope  of  his  temporal  power,  the  exclama- 
tion is  attributed  to  the  Empress,  "Better  the  Prussians  in  Paris, 
than  the  Italians  in  Rome  !  " 

That  the  French  were  deceived  in  supposing  their  army  ready 


FAYORINUS.  209 


for  a  campaign,  is  beyond  a  doubt.  No  one  rests  under  a  greater 
responsibility  for  this  deception,  than  Marshal  Leboeuf,  who 
declared,  when  asked  in  June,  1870,  of  the  state  of  the  French 
forces,  "  We  are  so  well  equipped,  that,  if  the  war  were  to  last 
ten  years,  we  should  not  have  to  buy  the  button  of  a  soldier's 
gaiter  "  (Nous  sommes  tellement  prets,  que  si  la  guerre  durait  dix 
cms,  nous  n'aurions  pas  meme  a  acheter  un  bouton  de  guetre). 
£mile  Ollivier,  the  pseudo-liberal  prime  minister  of  the  deca- 
dence of  the  second  empire,  on  the  announcement  of  the  declara- 
tion of  war,  said,  July  15,  "  From  this  day  a  great  responsibility 
weighs  upon  my  colleagues  and  myself :  we  accept  it  with  a  light 
heart "  (De  ce  jour  commence  pour  mes  collegues  et  pour  moi  une 
yrande  responsibility :  nous  Vacceptons  d'un  cceur  leger). 

FAVORINUS. 

[A  philosopher  and  sophist  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian ;  a  native  of 
Aries,  in  Gaul;  resided  in  Home,  Greece,  and  Asia  Minor,  and  ob- 
tained high  distinction.] 

It  is  ill  arguing  with  the  master  of  thirty  legions. 

Yielding  to  Hadrian  in  a  rhetorical  argument,  when  he  proba- 
bly remained  of  his  original  opinion. 

"  He  that  complies  against  his  will 
Is  of  the  same  opinion  still." 

Hudibras,  III.  3,  547. 

Selden  expressed  a  similar  thought  during  the  Civil  War : 
'Tis  not  seasonable  to  call  a  man  traitor  that  has  an  army  at  his 
heels."--  Table-Talk  (Traitor). 

JULES  FAVRE. 

[A  French  politician  and  advocate;  born  at  Lyons,  1809;  secretary- 
general  of  the  ministry  of  the  interior  of  the  republic  of  1848;  mem- 
ber of  the  Constituent  Assembly  of  that  year,  and  of  the  Corps 
Legislatif,  1858  and  1869,  where  he  opposed  the  second  empire;  mem- 
ber of  the  Academy;  of  the  Committee  of  National  Defence,  1870, 
where  he  held  the  department  of  foreign  affairs,  and  arranged  with 
Bismarck  the  capitulation  of  Paris ;  member  of  the  National  Assem- 
bly, and  senator;  died  1880.] 


210  FENELON. 


"We  will  not  cede  either  an  inch  of  our  territory  or  a 
stone  of  our  fortresses  (Nous  ne  cederons  ni  un  pouce  de 
terrain  ni  une  pierre  de  nos  forteresses) . 

From  a  circular  to  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  France 
abroad,  Sept.  6,  1870,  immediately  after  the  battle  of  Sedan  and 
the  fall  of  the  empire. 

FEFELON. 

[Francois  de  Salignac  de  la  Mothe-Fe'nelon,  a  French  prelate  and 
author;  born  in  Perigord,  Aug.  6,  1651;  preceptor  to  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  1689;  admitted  to  the  Academy,  1693;  archbishop  of 
Cambrai,  1695;  denounced  by  Bossuet  for  sharing  the  mystical  sen- 
timents of  Mine.  Guy  on,  and  dismissed  from  court;  wrote  "  Tele- 
inaque,"  1699;  died  Jan.  7,  1715.] 

I  am  more  of  a  Frenchman  than  a  Fenelon,  and  more 
a  man  than  a  Frenchman. 

He  also  said,  "  I  love  my  country  better  than  my  family,  but 
I  love  human  nature  better  than  my  country."  This  is  an  echo 
of  the  reply  of  Chremes  when  asked  if  he  had  time  enough  to 
interest  himself  in  the  affairs  of  others  :  — 

"  Homo  sum;  humani  nihil  a  me  alienum  puto." 

(I  am  a  man,  and  nothing  which  relates  to  man  can  be  a  matter  of 
unconcern  to  me.)  —  TERENCE:  Heauton.  I.  1. 

Socrates  said,  "  I  am  not  an  Athenian,  nor  a  Greek,  but  a  citi- 
zen of  the  world."  He  was  the  first  cosmopolitan,  though  he 
had  never  been  out  of  Attica. 

When  Rousseau  was  walking  one  day  on  Mont  Valerien,  near 
Paris,  with  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre,  the  author  of  "  Paul  et  Vir- 
ginie,"  and  expressed  his  pleasure  at  the  chanting  of  the  monks 
established  there,  Bernardin  said,  "If  Fenelon  were  alive  you 
would  be  a  Catholic  to-morrow."  —  "Ah!"  replied  Rousseau 
with  emotion,  "  if  he  were  alive,  I  would  seek  to  be  his  lackey 
in  order  to  deserve  to  become  his  valet-de-cliambre  "  (s'il  vii-ait,  je 
cliercherais  a  etre  son  laquais^pour  mcriter  d'etre  son  valet-de-chambre}. 
Voltaire  said,  "  I  do  not  know  whether  Fenelon  be  a  heretic  for 
saying  that  God  should  be  loved  for  himself,  but  I  know  that 
Fenelon  should  be." 


FfiNELON.  211 


Fdnelon  showed  his  liberal  feelings  by  his  manner  of  speaking 
of  his  opponents:  "We  Catholics  go  too  slow,  and  our  brothers 
the  Protestants  go  too  fast."  lie  could  not  convert  heretics  by 
a  dragonnade ;  and  on  his  return  from  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
bring  over  by  peaceful  arguments  the  Protestants  of  Poitou, 
Harlay,  the  Archbishop  of  Paris,  said  to  him,  "  It  seems,  M. 
I'abbe,  that  you  wish  to  be  forgotten,  and  you  shall  be''  (vous 
voulez  etre  oublie,  vous  le  serez).  It  was  a  sentence  of  banish- 
ment. 

When  Louis  XIV.  asked  Bossuet  what  he  would  do  if  his  out- 
cry against  Fenelon's  "  Maximes  des  Saints  "  were  not  supported 
by  the  king,  he  replied,  "  Sire,  my  cry  would  be  still  louder  "  (Je 
hausserais  la  voix  davantage).  Of  this  contest  between  Bossuet 
and  the  supporters  of  views  considered  Jansenist  and  heretical, 
which  finally  drove  Fenelon  into  the  obscurity  of  his  bishopric 
of  Cambrai,  Pope  Innocent  XII.  said  that  the  latter  "  sinned  by 
excessive  love  of  God,  Bossuet  by  insufficient  love  of  his  neigh- 
bor ; "  and  of  Fenelon's  book,  that  its  maxims  had  less  scandal- 
ized him  than  the  conduct  of  his  adversaries.  Bossuet  said  of 
Fenelon  at  this  time,  "  That  man  made  me  pass  many  a  wakeful 
night,"  —  a  remark  also  attributed  to  Philip  IV.  of  Spain,  of 
Turenne. 

Two  sayings  of  Fenelon  illustrate  his  views  of  royal  interfer- 
ence in  matters  of  religion.  He  advised  the  Pretender,  son  of 
James  II.  of  England,  to  practise  religious  toleration  in  case  he 
came  to  the  throne.  "Xo  human  power,"  he  declared,  "can  force 
the  intrenchments  of  the  human  mind :  compulsion  never  per- 
suades, it  only  makes  hypocrites ; "  and  again  to  the  same  prince, 
"When  kings  interfere  in  matters  of  religion,  they  enslave  in- 
stead of  protecting  it." 

A  good  discourse  is  that  from  which  nothing  can  be 
retrenched  without  cutting  into  the  quick. 

Letter  upon  eloquence. 

St.  Francis  de  Sales  (1567-1622)  has  three  maxims  on  the 
same  subject :  — 

"  The  test  of  the  worth  of  a  preacher  is  when  his  congrega- 
tion go  away  saying,  not '  What  a  beautiful  sermon  ! '  but  '  I  will 
do  something.'  " 


212  JULES  FERRY. 


"  The  more  you  say,  the  less  people  remember.  The  fewer 
the  words,  the  greater  the  profit." 

"  When  a  sermon  is  too  long,  the  end  makes  one  forget  the 
middle,  and  the  middle  the  beginning." 

Our  best  friends  are  the  source  of  our  greatest  sorrow 

and  bitterness  (Les  vrais  amis  font  toute  la  douleur  et  toute 
Vamertume  de  la  vie). 

Letter  to  M.  Destouches  on  hearing  of  the  death  of  the  Due 
de  Beauvilliers,  Aug.  13,  1714. 

JULES  FERRY. 

[A  French  statesman;  born  at  St.  Die,  April  5,  1832;  admitted  to 
the  bar  of  Paris;  elected  to  the  Corps  Legislatif,  1863,  and  opposed 
the  second  empire;  member  of  the  government  of  National  Defence, 
1870,  and  administered  the  Department  of  the  Seine;  member  of  the 
Assembly;  minister  of  public  instruction,  1879  and  1882;  prime  min- 
ister, 1880-81.] 

Ni  revision,  ni  division. 

An  expression  first  used  in  a  speech  at  Epinal  as  the  motto  of 
the  administration  or  moderate  wing  of  the  republican  party  in 
the  legislative  elections  of  1881,  neither  a  revision  of  the  consti- 
tution, nor  a  division  of  the  party.  The  result  of  the  elections, 
although  favorable  to  the  republicans,  did  not  secure  a  majority 
to  the  Ferry  cabinet,  which  resigned  in  November  of  that  year. 

A  similarly  alliterative  expression  may  be  found  in  the  mot 
d'ordre  given  by  Pope  Pius  IX.  to  the  Italian  clericals:  "Ne 
elettori  ne  eletti"  (Neither  electors  nor  elected);  in  other  words, 
the  supporters  of  the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  should  not 
recognize  the  Italian  government  after  the  occupation  of  Rome 
in  1870,  by  voting  in  the  municipal  and  parliamentary  elections, 
or  being  candidates  for  office.  The  prohibition,  so  far  as  mu- 
nicipal elections  were  concerned,  was  relaxed  in  1881. 

FONTENELLE. 

[Bernard  le  Bavier-Fontenelle,  a  celebrated  French  author;  born 
at  Rouen,  Feb.  11,  1657;  was  a  nephew  of  Corneille;  published  a 
"Discourse  on  the  Plurality  of  Worlds,"  1686;  member  of  the  Acad- 
emy; perpetual  secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  1699;  died 
January,  1757,  just  failing  to  complete  his  one-hundredth  year.] 


FONTENELLE.  213 


If  I  held  my  hand  full  of  truths,  I  should  be  careful 
how  I  opened  it  (Si  je  tenais  toutes  les  verites  dans  ma  main, 
je  me  donnerai  bien  de  garde  de  Vouvrir  aux  homines). 

An  expression  common  to  many  thinkers.  Voltaire  wrote  to 
Cardinal  de  Bernis,  April  23,  1764 :  "  There  are  truths  which  are 
not  for  all  men,  nor  for  all  times  "  (II  y  a  des  verites  qui  ne  sont 
pas  pour  tons  les  homines  et  pour  tons  les  temps)  ;  and  in  a  letter 
to  the  Countess  de  Barcewitz,  Dec.  24,  1761,  "  Truths  are  fruits 
which  should  only  be  plucked  when  quite  ripe  "  (qui  ne  doivent 
etre  cueillis  que  bien  miirs).  The  remark  of  Lessing  is  better 
known :  "  If  God  should  hold  enclosed  in  his  right  hand  all 
truth,  and  in  his  left  hand  only  the  ever-active  impulse  after 
truth  (den  einzigen  immer  rcgen  Trieb  nach  Wahrheif),  although 
with  the  condition  that  I  must  always  and  forever  err,  I  would 
with  humility  turn  to  his  left  hand,  and  say,  ( Father,  give  me 
this:  pure  truth  is  for  thee  alone.'  '  —  Anti-Gotze.  Mme.  du 
Deff  and  was  of  opinion  that  "  all  truths  are  not  to  be  spoken, 
nevertheless  it  is  always  good  to  hear  them ; "  which  is  but 
another  form  of  the  remark  of  Demosthenes  to  the  Athenians : 
"  My  counsels  to  you  are  of  that  nature  that  they  are  sometimes 
not  good  for  me  to  give,  but  are  always  good  for  you  to  follow." 

Every  thing  is  possible:  everybody  is  right. 

His  two  favorite  maxims,  indicating  the  paradoxical  spirit 
which  characterized  him. 

When  he  presented  his  "Essay  on  the  Geometry  of  the  Infi- 
nite" to  the  Regent  in  1727,  he  remarked,  "  Here  is  a  book  which 
only  eight  men  in  France  are  capable  of  understanding,  and  the 
author  is  not  one  of  that  number." 

To  a  lady  who  asked,  on  her  arrival  in  Paris,  what  the  chair 
in  the  Academy  was,  of  which  she  heard  so  much ;  "  It  is  a 
couch,"  replied  Fontenelle,  "where  wit  sleeps"  (C'est  un  lit  de 
repos  oit  le  bel  esprit  sommeille). 

There  are  three  things  I  have  always  loved,  and  never 
understood,  —  painting,  music,  and  woman. 

When  told  by  a  newly  married  friend  that  his  wife  was  witty 
and  amiable,  Fontenelle  asked,  "Is  she  pretty?  That  is  all 


SAMUEL  FOOTE. 


women  are  obliged  to  be."  (Est-elle  jolie?  Une  femme  n'est 
obligee  qu'a  cela.) 

He  was  told  by  a  physician  that  coffee  was  a  slow  poison  ;  to 
which  he  replied,  "  Doctor,  I  have  been  of  your  opinion  for  the 
eighty  years  that  I  have  taken  it "  (je  le  crois  coinme  vous,  voila 
quatre-vingts  ans  que  fen  pr ends). 

When  ninety  years  old,  passing  before  Mme.  Helvetius  at 
dinner,  she  said  to  him,  "  What  am  I  to  think  of  your  gallantry  ? 
You  pass  before  me  without  looking  at  me !  "  To  which  Fonte- 
nelle  replied,  "  Madame,  if  I  had  looked  at  you,  I  should  never 
have  passed ! ':  (Si  je  vous  eusse  regarde'e  je  naurais  point  passe' !) 

A  friend  called  upon  him  who  was  fond  of  asparagus  cooked 
with  butter,  while  Fontenelle  preferred  it  with  oil.  However, 
to  please  his  guest,  half  of  it  should  be  prepared  with  butter, 
and' the  original  order  was  countermanded  accordingly.  While 
they  were  talking,  the  friend,  a  bon-vivant  abbe,  fell  in  a  fit  of 
apoplexy ;  whereupon  Fontenelle,  without  a  thought  of  the  suf- 
ferer, rushed  to  the  stairs,  and  called  out  to  the  cook,  "  The 
whole  with  oil,  as  at  first !  " 

Fontenelle's  last  words  were :  UI  do  not  suffer,  my  friends: 
but  I  feel  a  certain  difficulty  of  existing  "  (Je  ne  soujfre  pas,  mes 
amis,  mais  je  sens  une  certaine  difficulte  d'etre).  He  said  that  it 
was  time  for  him  to  go,  because  he  was  "  beginning  to  see  things 
as  they  are "  (je  commence  a  voir  les  choses  idles  qu'elles  sont). 
Diderot  said  of  him  when,  in  his  last  days,  his  wit  (esprit)  only 
occasionally  flashed  forth,  "  'Tis  an  old  chateau  which  spirits 
revisit"  (C'est  un  vieux  chateau  ou  il  revient  des  esprits). 

SAMUEL  FOOTE. 

[A  witty  English  comedian, 'sometimes  called  "  the  English  Aristo- 
phanes; "  born  at  Truro,  about  1720;  educated  at  Oxford;  opened  the 
Haymarket  Theatre,  1747,  being  director,  author,  and  actor;  had  great 
talents  for  ridicxile,  mimicry,  and  colloquial  wit;  died  1777.] 

Thank  you,  sir :  you  know  the  company  better  than  I 
do. 

When  told  at  a  party  that  his  handkerchief  was  half  out  of  his 
pocket. 

A  gentleman  having  praised  a  very  plain  woman,  Foote  said 


SAMUEL  FOOTE.  215 


he  had  a  right  to  claim  her,  "  by  the  law  of  all  nations,  as  the 
first  discoverer." 

Foote  was  dining  one  day  in  Paris  with  Lord  Stormont,  and 
some  old  Cape  wine  was  passed  round  in  very  small  glasses. 
Foote  was  asked  why  he  kept  his  glass  so  long  before  him  with- 
out drinking;  to  which  he  replied,  "I  am  only  considering  how 
small  it  is  of  its  age."  This,  however,  is  as  old  as  Athenseus. 

When  told  that  the  Delavals  did  every  thing  in  good  style, 
"  It  is  not,"  he  said,  "  their  usual  gait." 

Being  asked  if  he  had  ever  seen  Cork,  "  Xo,  sir;  but  I  have     / 
seen  a  great  many  drawings  of  it." 

Dibble  said,  that,  much  as  he  liked  porter,  he  could  never  drink 
it  without  a  head.  "  That  must  be  a  mistake,"  interposed  Foote, 
"  as  you  have  done  so,  to  my  knowledge,  above  these  twenty 
years." 

One  who  preserves  all  the  exterior  decencies  of  igno- 
rance. 

His  definition  of  a  very  good  sort  of  man. 

When  on  one  occasion  he  had  attacked  a  pretentious  person 
upon  his  characteristic  foible,  and  the  latter  had  said,  "  Why  do 
you  attack  my  weakest  point?  "  Foote  replied,  "  Did  I  say  any 
thing  about  your  head?" 

A  conceited  young  fellow,  not  finding  his  jokes  appreciated, 
said  to  Foote  :  "  You  are  flat  to-day :  you  don't  seem  to  relish 
wit."  —  "You  have  not  tried  me  yet,"  was  the  answer. 

Foote  asked  a  man  without  tune  why  he  was  always  humming 
a  certain  air.  "  Because  it  haunts  me,"  was  the  reply.  "  Xo  won- 
der," rejoined  Foote,  "  when  you  are  always  murdering  it." 

On  a  certain  occasion,  a  rich  Cornish  rector  held  forth  upon 
the  surprising  profits  of  his  living,  and  stretched  a  very  dirty 
hand  over  the  table.  "Well,  doctor,  I  am  not  at  all  surprised 
at  your  profits,"  remarked  Foote,  "for  I  see  you  keep  the  glebe 
in  your  own  hands." 

He  said  that  he  did  not  go  to  church  :  "not,  however,  that  I 
see  any  harm  in  it."  When  Boswell  asked  Johnson  if  Foote' 
wrere  an  infidel,  "I  don't  know,  sir,"  he  replied,  "that  the  fel- 
low is  an  infidel ;  but  if  he  be,  he  is  an  infidel  as  a  dog  is  an 
infidel,  —  that  is  to  say,  he  has  never  thought  upon  the  subject." 


216  SAMUEL  FOOTE. 


A  mercantile  friend,  who  imagined  that  he  had  a  genius  for 
poetry,  insisted  on  reading  some  verses  beginning,  "  Hear  me, 
O  Phoebus,  and  ye  Muses  nine  !  "  and  then,  perceiving  his  auditor 
inattentive,  exclaimed,  "Pray  listen."  —  "I  do,"  replied  Foote  ; 
"  nine  and  one  are  ten  :  go  on." 

She  keeps  the  Graces  at  arm's-length. 

Of  a  lady  extremely  awkward  in  the  use  of  her  arms. 

To  a  hypocrite,  who  said  that  his  heart  lay  at  his  fingers'  ends, 
"  I  always  thought  so,"  replied  Foote,  "  as  I  never  knew  it  to  lie 
in  the  right  place." 

A  guinea  dropped  on  to  the  floor,  and  Garrick  observed  that  it 
had  gone  to  the  devil.  "You  are  what  I  took  you  for,"  rejoined 
Foote,  "  always  contriving  to  make  a  guinea  go  farther  than 
any  other  man."  Garrick  was  considered  exceedingly  avaricious, 
although  Johnson  denied  it.  When  once  asked  how  he  could 
place  Garrick 's  bust  on  his  bureau,  Foote  replied,  "  I  allow  him 
to  be  so  near  my  gold  because  he  has  no  hands."  Boswell  quotes 
a  saying  of  Foote,  that  "  Garrick  walked  out  with  the  intention 
of  doing  a  generous  action ;  but,  turning  the  corner  of  a  street, 
he  met  the  ghost  of  a  halfpenny,  which  frightened  him."  —  Life 
of  Johnson,  1778. 

Suppose  you  go  sober,  my  lord. 

To  an  intemperate  nobleman,  who  asked  Foote  in  what  dis- 
guise he  had  better  go  to  a  fancy  ball. 

A  dull  dramatic  author  said  he  could  laugh  at  his  critics. 
"  Do  so,"  said  Foote ;  "  for  in  this  way  you  will  not  only  dis- 
appoint them,  but  lead  the  merriest  life  of  any  man  in  Eng- 
land." 

A  reviewer  boasted  that  he  had  the  power  of  distributing 
literary  reputation  as  he  liked.  "  Take  care,"  Foote  told  him, 
"  that  you  are  not  too  prodigal  of  it,  or  you  may  leave  none  for 
yourself." 

It  should  be  Woodcock,  by  the  length  of  your  bill. 

Asking  the  landlord  of  the  castle  at  Salthill,  on  the  produc- 
tion of  the  bill  for  dinner,  what  his  name  was,  and  being  told  it 
was  Partridge. 


JOSEPH  FOUCHE.  217 


"If  you  go  to  Ziirich,  beware  how  you  stop  at  the  Raven. 
They  will  cheat  you.  They  cheated  me.  But  I  had  my  revenge ; 
for  when  we  reached  Schaffhausen  I  wrote  in  the  Travellers' 

Book :  — 

"  Beware  of  the  Raven  of  Zurich! 

'Tis  a  bird  of  omen  ill; 
With  a  noisy  and  an  unclean  nest, 
And  a  very,  very  long  bill." 

LONGFELLOW:  Hyperion,  Bk.  III.  chap.  iii. 

Depend  upon  it,  it  is  not  a  thing  to  be  laughed  at. 

Returning  a  comedy  to  an  author  who  had  asked  Foote  to 
look  at  it.  Rivarol  said  of  Dugazon,  a  buffoon,  who  overdid  his 
parts,  "  He  is  a  good  comedian,  pleasantry  apart." 

A  celebrated  gambler,  Baron  *Newman,  having  been  thrown 
out  of  a  second-story  window  at  Bath  for  cheating  at  cards, 
asked  Foote  what  he  should  do.  "  Never  play  so  high  again  in 
your  life,"  was  the  reply.  The  same  advice  is  attributed,  in  a 
similar  case,  to  Talleyrand:  "Only  play  on  the  ground  floor" 
(rez-de-chaussee) . 

Lord  Kelly  had  a  very  red  face.  "  Pray,  my  lord,"  said  Foote 
to  him,  "  come  and  look  over  my  garden-wall :  my  cucumbers  are 
very  backward." 

When  Foote  was  talking  immoderately  at  table,  a  bishop 
asked  when  he  would  stop  preaching:  "Oh,  my  lord!  the  nio- 
inent  I  am  made  a  bishop." 

The  foolish  Duke  of  Cumberland  told  Foote,  in  the  green- 
room, he  had  come  to  swallow  all  his  good  things.  "  Upon  my 
soul,"  the  actor  replied,  "  your  royal  highness  must  have  an  ex- 
cellent digestion,  for  you  never  bring  up  any  thing  again." 

JOSEPH  FOUCHE. 

[Due  d'Otranto,  a  French  Jacobin;  born  at  Nantes,  1763;  mem- 
ber of  the  Convention;  minister  of  police  under  the  Directory  and 
Empire,  and  a  short  time  after  the  restoration;  banished,  1816;  died 
at  Trieste,  1820.] 

Death  is  an  eternal  sleep  (La  mort  est  un  sommeil  eternel). 

Placed  by  his  orders  on  the  gates  of  the  cemeteries  in  1794. 
Robespierre  said,  in  one  of  his  last  speeches,  "  No,  Chaumette : 
death  is  not  an  eternal  sleep." 


218  CHARLES  JAMES  FOX. 

Napoleon  asked  Fouche  if  he  did  not  vote  for  the  death  of 
Louis  XVI. ;  to  which  he  gave  the  courtier-like  reply,  "  Yes, 
sire:  that  was  the  first  service  I  had  the  honor  of  rendering  your 
majesty ;  "  meaning  that  the  death  of  the  king  was  the  first  step 
to  the  empire. 

A  lady  wrote  him  from  St.  Petersburg,  in  1801,  that  she  had 
seen  Alexander  I.  in  a  procession,  preceded  by  the  assassins  of 
his  grandfather  (Peter  III.),  followed  by  those  of  his  father 
(Paul),  and  surrounded  by  his  own.  "Behold  a  woman  who 
speaks  Tacitus  !  "  exclaimed  Fouche. 

CHARLES  JAMES  FOX. 

[A  celebrated  English  orator  and  statesman;  born  in  London,  Jan. 
24, 1749;  educated  at  Oxford;  entered  Parliament,  1768,  as  a  supporter 
of  Lord  North ;  appointed  junior  lord  of  the  admiralty,  and  in  1793 
a  lord  of  the  treasury;  dismissed  for  insubordination,  he  joined  the 
opposition,  and  became  the  leader  of  the  whigs;  secretary  of  state, 
1783;  foreign  secretary,  1806;  died  Sept.  13  of  that  year,  while  nego- 
tiating for  peace  with  France.] 

I  am  for  equality.    I  think  that  men  are  entitled  to 
equal  rights,  but  to  equal  rights  to  unequal  things. 

Napoleon's  opinion  was  more  in  accordance  with  the  assertion 
of  the  American  Declaration  of  Independence,  when  he  said, 
"Nature  made  all  men  equal."  Turgot  said,  "The  republic  is 
formed  upon  the  equality  of  all  the  citizens ;  "  and  Frederick  the 
Great  imbibed  even  more  radical  ideas  from  the  French  philos- 
ophers :  "Kings  are  nothing  but  men,  and  all  men  are  equal." 
Dr.  Johnson,  however,  declared  that,  so  far  from  being  true  that 
all  men  are  naturally  equal  (in  an  intellectual  and  moral  sense), 
"no  two  people  can  be  half  an  hour  together  but  one  shall 
acquire  an  evident  superiority  over  the  other." — BOSWELL:  Life, 
1776.  In  a  speech  at  Glasgow  University,  Nov.  19,  1873,  Mr. 
Disraeli  said,  "  It  appeared  to  me  that  I  should  not  greatly  err 
were  I  to  describe  the  spirit  of  the  age  as  the  spirit  of  equality." 

The  worst  of  revolutions  is  a  restoration. 

Referring  to  the  re-action  of  restorations,  such  as  that  in  Eng- 
land after  the  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  and  the  "  White  Terror  " 


CHARLES   JAMES  FOX.  219 

in  France  after  the  return  of  the  Bourbons.  Fox  also  said,  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  Dec.  10,  1795,  "  The  people  of  England, 
in  my  opinion,  committed  a  worse  offence  by  the  unconstitutional 
restoration  of  Charles  II.  than  even  by  the  death  of  Charles  I." 

Kings  govern  by  means  of  popular  assemblies  only 
when  they  cannot  do  without  them. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  Oct.  31,  1776. 

He  said  on  another  occasion,  "  We  ought  not  to  legislate  for 
a  nation  in  whose  feelings  and  affections,  wants  and  interests, 
opinions  and  prejudices,  we  have  no  sympathy." 

Of  the  assistance  given  by  France  to  the  American  colonies, 
and  the  consequent  hostilities  between  England  and  that  country, 
Fox  declared  in  the  House  of  Commons,  "  America  must  be  con- 
quered in  France  :  France  can  never  be  conquered  in  America." 

Not  a  precedent,  but  a  usurpation. 

He  once  drew  the  following  distinction  :  "  Whenever  any  usage 
appeared  subversive  of  the  constitution,  if  it  had  lasted  for  one 
or  two  hundred  years,  it  was  not  a  precedent,  but  a  usurpation." 

His  usual  remark,  when  told  that  a  speech  read  well,  was, 
"  Then  it  was  a  bad  speech."  —  MOORE  :  Life  of  Sheridan,  II.  12, 
note. 

"I  learn  more  from  conversation,"  Fox  once  declared,  "than 
from  all  the  books  I  ever  read."  "A  great  thing  is  a  great 
book,"  says  Disraeli,  "but  a  greater  thing  than  all  is  the  talk 
of  a  great  man."  —  Coningsby. 

"  The  Greek  historians,"  Fox  said,  "  generally  told  nothing  but 
the  truth,  while  the  Latin  historians  told  nothing  but  lies." 

When  it  was  asked  if  a  Frenchman  were  not  wiser  in  prefer- 
ring the  present,  Fox  thought  he  might  be  merrier :  "  Did  you 
ever  hear  of  a  savage  who  did  not  buy  a  mirror  in  preference  to 
a  telescope  V  " 

Topham  Beauclerk  called  one  morning  after  Fox  had  lost  an 
immense  sum  of  money  at  play,  thinking  to  find  him  in  a  state 
of  deep  despondency.  He  was,  however,  reading  Herodotus  in 
the  original.  "  What  would  you  have  me  do,"  he  asked,  "  when 
I  have  lost  my  last  shilling?"  When  a  French  gentleman  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  that  a  nation  so  moral  as  England  should 


220  CHARLES  JAMES  FOX. 

submit  to  be  governed  by  a  man  so  wanting  in  private  virtue  as 
Fox,  Pitt  replied,  "  C'est  que  vous  ?i'avez  pas  ete  sous  la  baguette  du 
magicien  "  (You  have  never  been  under  the  wand  of  the  magi- 
cian). Many  of  his  sayings  show  Pitt's  generous  estimate  of  Fox: 
as  this,  of  their  comparative  powers  of  expression,  "  Fox  is  never 
at  a  loss  for  the  word,  and  I  am  never  at  a  loss  for  a  word ; "  and 
of  one  of  his  speeches,  "Don't  disparage  it:  nobody  could  have 
made  it  but  himself;  "  and  at  another  time,  "Whenever  I  have 
made  a  better  speech  than  usual,  I  observe  that  Fox  in  his  reply 
surpasses  himself." 

When  Fox,  after  the  king's  mental  illness,  contended  that  the 
heir-apparent  was  entitled  as  of  right  to  be  regent,  —  an  idea 
opposed  to  the  traditional  maxims  of  the  Whig  party,  —  Pitt 
exclaimed,  "  For  this  doctrine  I  will  wn-whig  him  for  the  rest 
of  his  days."  —  MOORE'S  Life  of  Sheridan. 

Dr.  Porson  said  of  the  two  orators,  "  Pitt  carefully  considered 
his  sentences  before  he  uttered  them ;  but  Fox  threw  himself 
into  the  middle  of  his,  and  left  it  to  God  Almighty  to  get  him 
out  again  ;  "  and  William  Windham  said  that  "  Pitt  could  speak 
a  king's  speech  off-hand,"  referring  to  the  speeches  with  which 
the  sovereign  opens  Parliament,  and  which  are  carefully  com- 
posed by  the  cabinet. 

Every  man  would  desire  once  in  his  life,  at  least,  to 
make  a  pilgrimage  to  Switzerland,  the  country  of 
liberty  and  peace. 

Samuel  Rogers  said  that  "  the  most  beautiful  and  magnificent 
view  on  the  face  of  the  earth  is  the  prospect  of  Mont  Blanc  from, 
the  Jura  Mountains."  Richard  Cobden  was  asked  if  it  were 
worth  while  to  take  a  long  journey  for  the  purpose  of  seeing 
Niagara.  His  answer  was,  "  There  are  two  sublimities  in  nature, 
—  one  of  rest,  the  other  of  motion.  The  sublimity  of  rest  is  a 
distant  view  of  the  Alps;  the  sublimity  of  motion  is  Niagara." 

I  die  happy. 

His  last  words. 

Dr.  Johnson  said  of  Fox,  "  He  is  a  liberal  man  :  he  would 
always  be  aut  Ccesar,  aut  nullus.  Whenever  I  have  seen  him 


FRANCIS  I.  221 


he  was  nullus"     Caesar  Borgia  had  a  device  under  the  head  of 
Caesar,  "Aut  Ccesar,  aut  nihil." 

"  Borgia  was  Caesar,  both  in  deed  and  name; 
'  Caesar  or  nought,'  he  said:  he  both  became." 

Dr.  Johnson  used  another  Latin  quotation  with  a  more  favor- 
able intention,  when  he  said,  "  Fox  is  a  most  extraordinary  man, 
who  has  divided  the  kingdom  with  Caesar  (division  imperium 
cum  Jove  Ccesar  habet)  ;  so  that  it  was  a  doubt  whether  the 
nation  should  be  governed  by  the  sceptre  of  George  III.  or 
the  tongue  of  Fox." 

"  In  the  most  imperfect  relic  of  Fox's  speeches,"  said  Erskine, 
"the  bones  of  a  giant  are  to  be  discovered." 

FRANCIS  I. 

[King  of  France;  born  at  Cognac,  Sept.  12,  1494;  succeeded  his 
cousin  Louis  XII.,  1515;  conquered  the  Milanese  the  same  year;  was 
a  candidate  for  the  imperial  crown,  which  Charles  V.  obtained, 
and  formed  a  league  with  England  and  the  Pope  against  Francis, 
who  was  defeated  at  Pavia,  1525,  and  taken  prisoner;  confined 
in  Madrid  until  152G,  when  he  continued  the  war  until  1529,  and 
later  until  1544;  promoted  science,  art,  and  literature;  died  March, 
1547.] 

Let  him  who  loves  me  follow  me  !  (Qui  m'aime  me  suive !) 

To  his  officers,  who  opposed  his  fighting  the  battle  of  Ma- 
rignano  against  the  Milanese,  in  w7hich,  however,  he  was  vic- 
torious, Sept.  13  and  14,  1515.  The  exclamation  became  a 
proverbial  expression. 

A  more  elaborate  appeal  to  the  personal  loyalty  of  his  follow- 
ers was  the  watchword  of  Henry  IV.  at  Ivry,  March  14,  1590 : 
"  If  the  ensigns  fail  you,  rally  to  my  white  plume :  you  will 
always  find  it  in  the  path  of  honor  and  victory  "  (Si  les  cornets 
vous  manquent,  ralliez-vous  a  mon  panache  Mane :  vous  le  trouverez 
toujours  an  cliemin  de  Vlionneur  et  de  la  victoire). 

Larochejaquelin  said  to  his  volunteers,  in  the  royalist  insur- 
rection in  La  Vendee,  1793,  "  If   I  advance,  follow  me  !   if   I     , 
retreat,  kill  me  !  if  I  die,  avenge  me  !  "  (Si  j'avance,  suivez-moi! 
si  je  recule,  tuez-moi .'  si  je  meurs,  vengez-moi  /) 


222  FRANCIS  I. 


All  is  lost  save  honor. 

The  translation  of  the  announcement  which  Francis  I.  was 
supposed  to  have  made  of  the  disastrous  battle  of  Pavia,  con- 
taining only  the  words,  "  Tout  est  perdu  fors  rhonneur."  The 
real  letter  was  found  in  the  manuscript  registers  of  Parliament, 
and  published  in  1837.  The  original  is  lost;  but  the  autograph 
reply  of  the  mother  of  Francis,  Louise  de  Savoy,  is  preserved, 
and  contains  almost  textually  the  phrases  of  the  king's  missive, 
which  began  by  informing  her  that  nothing  remains  to  him  but 
honor  and  life  (de  toutes  choses  ne  m'est  demoure  que  Flwnneur  et 
la  vie  qui  est  saulre).  He  hopes  that  God  will  not  abandon  him; 
recommends  to  her  care  his  young  children,  and  entreats  her  to 
effect  a  safe  return  to  Spain  of  the  bearer  of  a  letter  he  had 
written  to  the  emperor  to  ask  what  treatment  he  might  expect 
during  his  captivity.  —  Captivite  de  Francois  /.,  129. 

As  Drouot  pressed  the  hand  of  Napoleon,  on  the  emperor's 
return  to  the  palace  of  the  Ely  see,  three  days  after  the  battle 
of  Waterloo,  Caulaincourt  exclaimed,  "  All  is  lost !  "  —  "  Excepte 
Fhonneur"  added  Napoleon.  It  was  the  first  word  he  had  spoken 
since  leaving  Laon. 

The  Comte  de  Provence  (afterwards  Louis  XVIII.)  replied, 
while  in  exile,  to  a  proposal  that  he  should  renounce  his  claim 
to  the  French  throne,  by  saying  that  he  was  ignorant  of  the 
designs  of  Providence,  but  was  aware  of  the  obligations  of  his 
rank  :  as  a  Christian,  he  would  perform  those  obligations  to 
his  latest  breath  ;  son  of  St.  Louis,  he  would  respect  himself 
even  in  chains  ;  successor  of  Francis  L,  he  would  say,  like  him, 
"  Tout  est  perdu  fors  rhonneur."  —  BoURRIENNE  :  Memoirs  of  Na- 
poleon, II.  chap.  xxvi. 

The  defeat  of  Pavia  led  to  the  surrender  and  captivity  of 
Francis  I.  It  is  said  that  in  the  first  moment  of  despondency  he 
attempted  suicide ;  crying,  as  he  struck  at  himself  with  a  dag- 
ger, "  'Twere  better  that  a  king  should  die  thus."  He  was,  how- 
ever, conveyed  to  Spain  ;  the  journey  being  imbittered  by  the 
thought,  "How  dearly  do  I  pay  for  this  crown,  which  I  thought 
God  had  given  me  free  !  "  At  the  termination  of  his  captivity, 
—  which  he  purchased  by  a  treaty  he  afterwards  disavowed,  arid 
by  the  exchange  of  his  two  sons,  —  he  exclaimed,  as  his  horse 


FRANCIS  I.  223 


leaped  across  the  Bidassoa,  the  narrow  boundary  between  France 
and  Spain,  "  I  am  still  a  king !  " 

I  can  make  nobles  when  I  will,  and  even  great  lords : 
God  alone  can  make  a  man  like  him  whom  we  are 
going  to  lose  ( Je  puis  faire  des  nobles  quand  je  veux,  et  meme 
de  tres  yrands  seigneurs :  Dieu  seul  pent  faire  un  homme  comme  celui 
que  nous  allons  perdre). 

The  very  doubtful  mot,  concerning  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  the 
Italian  painter,  who  visited  Paris  on  the  invitation  of  Francis, 
and  is  said  to  have  died  in  the  king's  arms  at  Fontainebleau. 
It  is  now,  however,  considered  impossible  that  the  artist,  broken 
by  infirmity,  could  have  left  the  chateau  of  Clou,  near  Amboise, 
which  had  been  given  him  as  a  residence  by  the  king,  to  mix  in 
the  festivals  of  the  court  at  Fontainebleau ;  nor  could  he  have 
been  buried  at  Amboise  (as  was  the  fact),  if  his  death  had  oc- 
curred in  the  royal  palace.  It  is  also  well  settled,  that  on  the 
day  of  Leonardo's  death  (May  2,  1519),  Francis  could  not  have 
been  either  at  Fontainebleau  or  at  Clou  ;  the  contest  for  the 
imperial  crown  of  Germany  then  demanding  his  attention,  and 
preventing  his  absence  from  Paris  at  a  greater  distance  than  St. 
Germain. 

However  that  may  be,  there  is  no  question  of  the  liberality  of 
Francis  towards  art  and  artists.  Raphael  received  more  than 
he  thought  due  for  the  St.  Michael,  now  in  the  Louvre,  and  in- 
sisted upon  the  king's  acceptance  of  a  Holy  Family.  Francis 
received  it  as  if  it  had  been  the  present  of  a  monarch,  saying, 
"Persons  famous  in  the  arts  partake  of  the  immortality  of 
princes,  and  are  upon  a  footing  with  them." 

Other  kings  have  shown  the  same  appreciation  of  great  artistic 
and  literary  talent.  When  a  nobleman  complained  to  Henry 
VIII.  of  rude  treatment  he  alleged  to  have  received  from  Hans 
Holbein,  the  German  painter,  the  king  turned  him  away  with 
the  sharp  reproof,  "  I  tell  you,  of  seven  peasants  I  can  make  as 
many  lords  ;  but  of  seven  lords  I  could  not  make  one  Holbein." 
Charles  V.,  the  third  of  these  rivals  for  the  German  crown,  made 
a  similar  reply  to  his  courtiers,  who  complained  of  the  long 
audiences  he  gave  an  Italian  author  who  lived  many  years  at 
Antwerp :  "  I  can  make  a  hundred  grandees,  but  no  Guicciar- 


224  FRANCIS  I. 


dini."  Philip  IV.  of  Spain  (160o-65)  said  of  a  decoration 
painted  by  himself  in  a  portrait  by  a  celebrated  artist,  "  Is  it  not 
a  great  honor  to  have  borne  a  hand  in  a  picture  of  Velasquez?" 
Selden  in  his  "  Table-Talk "  drew  a  clear  distinction :  "  The 
king  cannot  make  a  gentleman  of  blood,  nor  God  Almighty,  but 
he  can  make  a  gentleman  by  creation."  James  I.  had  already 
said,  "  I  can  make  a  lord,  but  only  God  Almighty  can  make  a 
gentleman." 

Such  is  our  good  pleasure  (Tel  estnotr  ebon  plaisir). 

His  form  of  assent,  resting,  says  Sully  ("  Memoirs  "),  not  on 
the  approbation  of  his  people,  but  upon  his  royal  caprice.  The 
careless  answer  of  a  pleasure-loving  king  became  the  formula  by 
which  his  successors  indicated  their  approval  of  legislative  enact- 
ments. The  English  derive  a  similar  one  from  their  Korman 
sovereigns  :  "  Le  roi  le  veut "  (The  king  wills  it). 

The  indifference  of  Francis  to  his  subjects  is  shown  by  his 
answer  to  Charles  V.,  who  asked  him  what  revenues  he  drew 
from  certain  cities  of  France  through  which  they  were  passing : 
"What  I  please  "  (Ce  queje  veux). 

Toute  femme  varie. 

Written  on  a  window  of  the  chateau  of  Chambord  by  Francis 
I.,  where  it  was  seen  and  read  by  Brantome. —  Vie  des  Dames 
Galantes. 

That  he  scratched  the  words  on  a  pane  of  glass  with  the  point 
of  a  diamond,  rather  than  wrote  them  on  the  sill  with  a  pencil, 
is  less  certain.  If  with  the  former,  it  is  the  first  time  that  we 
read  of  the  application  of  the  diamond  to  that  purpose.  —  THEO- 
PHILE  :  Essai  sur  divers  Arts. 

Tradition  assigns  two  lines  to  the  royal  hand :  — 

"  Sou  vent  femme  varie: 

Bien  fol  est  qui  s'y  fie." 
(Woman  often  changes:  foolish  is  the  man  who  trusts  her.) 

It  is  but  another  form  of  the  Virgilian  line  ("  JEneid,"  IV.  569)  : 

"  Varium  et  rnutabile  semper 
Fcemina." 

("Always  is  woman  fickleness  and  change.") 

LONG'S  Translation. 


FRANCIS  II.  225 


Verdi  echoed  it  in  the  air  of  his  opera  "Rigoletto  "  (La  donna 
e  mobile  ").  Napoleon  declared  at  St.  Helena,  that  there  was  no 
accounting  for  the  actions  of  a  woman ;  and  Victor  Hugo  pro- 
nounces her  "the  enigma  of  the  nineteenth  century." 

FRANCIS  II. 

[Emperor  of  Germany;  born  at  Florence,  February,  1768;  began 
to  reign  over  the  hereditary  Austrian  dominions,  1792;  chosen  em- 
peror of  Germany  the  same  year;  resigned,  1806,  when  the  conquests 
of  Napoleon  dissolved  the  Holy  Roman  Empire;  assumed  the  title 
of  Francis  I.,  Emperor  of  Austria;  died  1835,  beloved  by  his  subjects 
in  spite  of  his  reverses.] 

If  I  am  to  live  only  with  my  equals,  I  must  descend 
into  the  tomb  of  my  ancestors,  and  dwell  there  for- 
ever. 

The  leaden  coffins  of  the  Austrian  royal  family  stand  in  thi© 
crypt  of  the  Capuchin  Church  in  Vienna:  it 'was  to  them  that 
Francis  said  he  must  descend,  when  reproached  with  being  too. 
familiar  with  his  subjects. 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 

[Born  in  Boston,  Jan.  17,  1706;  at  seventeen  obtained  employment 
as  a  printer  in  Philadelphia;  after  a  year  in  London  established  him- 
self in  the  former  city;  founded  the  Philadelphia  Library,  1731; 
deputy-postmaster  for  the  American  Colonies,  1753;  made  discoveries 
in  electricity,  1752;  member  of  the  Royal  Society;  agent  of  the  Colo- 
nies in  England,  1764;  on  his  return,  1775,  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  one  of  the  committee  to  draught  the  Declaration  of 
Independence;  minister  to  France,  1776,  where  he  signed  the  treaty 
with  that  country  and  afterwards  that  of  peace  with  England;  presi- 
dent of  Pennsylvania  three  years  ;  delegate  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention;  died  April  17,  1790.] 

I  think,  father,  if  you  were  to  say  grace  over  the 
whole  barrel,  once  for  all,  it  would  be  a  vast  saving 
of  time. 

A  suggestion  that  Franklin  made  at  the  age  of  twelve,  when 
the  winter's  provisions  had  been  laid  in,  and  he  thought  his 
father's  daily  grace  rather  long. 

He  was  on  one  occasion,  during  his  youth,  leaving  the  house 


22G  BEXJAMIX  FRAXKLIX. 

of  the  Rev.  Cotton  Mather,  and  was  told  to  stoop  in  a  low  pas- 
sage-way. "  You  are  young,"  said  the  divine,  "  and  have  the 
world  before  you :  stoop  as  you  go  through  it,  and  you  will  miss 
many  hard  thumps." 

Those  who  would  give  up  essential  liberty  for  the  sake 
of  a  little  temporary  safety  deserve  neither  liberty 
nor  safety. 

During  the  French  war,  in  1755. 

The  following  sayings  relate  to  the  period  antecedent  to  the 
Revolution.  Franklin  wrote  to  Lord  Kames  in  1761  :  "I  have 
long  been  of  the  opinion  that  the  foundations  of  the  future 
grandeur  and  stability  of  the  British  empire  lie  in  America." 
Of  the  proposal  to  send  British  troops  to  enforce  the  Stamp  Act, 
he  said  in  February,  1766,  "  They  cannot  find  a  rebellion  :  they 
may,  indeed,  make  one."  Franklin  was  far  from  looking  for- 
ward, at  that  time,  to  a  dissolution  of  the  connection  between 
England  and  her  colonies.  Charles  Pratt  (Lord  Camden),  the 
author  of  the  maxim,  "The  discretion  of  a  judge  is  the  law  of 
tyrants,"  afterwards  lord  chancellor  and  a  supporter  of  the 
policy  of  Chatham,  said  to  Franklin  in  1760,  "For  all  that  you 
Americans  say  of  your  loyalty,  and  notwithstanding  your  boasted 
affection,  you  will  one  day  set  up  for  independence."  Franklin 
denied  it,  "unless  you  grossly  abuse  them." 

In  a  letter  on  the  Stamp  Act,  written  from  London,  July  11, 
1765,  Franklin  said,  "  Idleness  and  pride  tax  with  a  heavier 
hand  than  kings  and  parliaments :  if  we  can  get  rid  of  the 
former,  we  may  easiiy  bear  the  latter."  He  also  wrote  on  the 
same  subject:  "The  sun  of  liberty  is  set:  you  must  light  up 
the  candle  of  industry  and  economy." 

In  describing  a  debate  on  American  affairs,  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  1775,  Franklin  exclaimed,  "  Hereditary  legislators  !  there 
would  be  more  propriety,  because  less  hazard  of  mischief,  in 
hereditary  professors  of  mathematics,  as  in  some  university  in 
Germany.'' 

Franklin  closed  a  letter  from  Philadelphia  to  Mr.  Strahan, 
M.P.,  July  5,  1775,  after  hostilities  had  commenced:  "You  and 
I  were  long  friends :  you  are  now  my  enemy,  and  I  am,  yours, 
B.  FRANKLIN." 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  227 

We  must  all  hang  together,   else  we   shall  all  hang 
separately. 

In  reply  to  a  remark  of  John  Hancock,  while  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  being  signed,  July  4,  1770,  that  they  must 
all  hang  together. 

In  a  debate  on  taxation,  in  the  Continental  Congress,  July, 
1776,  Mr.  Lynch  asked  why  slaves  should  be  taxed  more  than 
sheep.  "  Sheep  will  never  make  insurrections,"  was  Franklin's 
answer.  Some  one  asked  why  the  new  boulevards  of  Paris  were 
made  so  long  and  straight.  "Bullets  cannot  turn  corners,"  was 
the  reply  of  Baron  Ilaussmann,  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine  under 
Napoleon  III. 

Lord  Howe  spoke,  in  1776,  of  England's  need  of  American 
commerce  and  men.  "  Ay,  my  lord,"  assented  Franklin  :  "  we 
have  in  America  a  pretty  considerable  manufactory  of  men." 
When  told  that  Lord  Howe  had  taken  Philadelphia,  in  1777,  "  I 
beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  retorted  Franklin :  "  Philadelphia  has 
taken  Howe." 

Nothing  is  certain  but  death  and  taxes. 

Franklin  addressed  a  letter  to  M.  Leroy,  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences,  in  1789  :  "  Our  constitution  is  in  actual  opera- 
tion; every  thing  appears  to  promise  that  it  will  last:  but  in  this 
world  nothing  is  certain  but  death  and  taxes  "  (mais  dans  ce 
monde,  il  n'y  a  rien  d' assure  que  la  mort  et  les  impels). 

The  revolutionary  carillon  of  France,  pa  ira,  was  composed  by 
an  itinerant  musician,  who  took  the  refrain  from  a  mot  of  Frank- 
lin on  the  Revolution:  ca  ira,  ?a  liendra.  —  CASSAGNAC  :  History 
of  the  Girondists,  I.  373. 

Franklin  said  to  the  French  ministry  in  March,  1778,  "He 
who  shall  introduce  into  public  affairs  the  principles  of  primitive 
Christianity  will  change  the  face  of  the  world."  He  made  a 
prediction  to  Condorcet  and  others,  which  to  some  of  them 
became  fatally  true  :  "  You  perceive  Liberty  establish  herself  and 
flourish  almost  under  your  very  eyes :  I  dare  to  predict  that 
by  and  by  you  will  be  anxious  to  taste  her  blessings." 

A  Frenchman  sent  him  a  large  cake  inscribed  llle  dinne  Frank- 
lin." He  said  it  was  a  mistake  for  Zee,  Deane,  Franklin,  -  -  the 
three  American  commissioners. 


228  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 

When  a  friend  remarked  that  the  war  for  independence  was 
successfully  closed,  "  Say,  rather,  the  war  of  the  Revolution  :  the 
war  for  independence  is  yet  to  be  fought." 

If   a  sparrow   cannot  fall  without  God's   knowledge, 
how  can  an  empire  rise  without  his  aid? 

Proposing  that  the  sessions  of  the  Constitutional  Convention, 
in  May,  1787,  be  opened  with  prayer. 

A  dying  man  can  do  nothing  easy. 

To  his  daughter,  who  advised  him  to  change  his  position  in 
bed,  that  he  might  breathe  with  more  ease.  These  are  the  last 
words  recorded  of  the  American  patriot  and  philosopher. 

When  Franklin's  death  was  announced  in  the  French  National 
Assembly,  Mirabeau  moved  that  the  Assembly  should  go  into 
mourning,  saying  that  "  nations  should  wear  mourning  only  for 
their  benefactors."  He  declared  that  "antiquity  would  have 
raised  altars  to  this  mighty  genius,  who,  to  the  advantage  of 
mankind,  compassing  in  his  mind  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
was  able  to  restrain  alike  thunderbolts  and  tyrants."  Turgot 
had  already  composed  the  line  which  was  inscribed  on  Houdon's 
bust  of  Franklin :  — 

"  Eripuit  coelo  fulmen  sceptrumque  tyrannis." 
(He  snatched  the  lightning  from  heaven,  and  the  sceptre  from 
tyrants.) 

This  is  an  alteration  of  a  line  of  the  "  Anti-Lucretius "  of 
Cardinal  de  Polignac,  I.  .v.  96,  — 

"  Eripuit  fulmenque  Jovi  Phceboque  sagittas;  " 

or  it  may  even  be  referred  to  the  "  Astronomicon  "  of  Manilius, 
a  Latin  poet  of  the  time  of  Augustus  :  — 

"  Eripuit  Jovi  fulraen  viresque  tonandi." 

Turgot  first  wrote,  according  to  his  biographer  Condorcet : 
"  Eripuit  coelo  fulmen)  MOX  sceptra  tyrannis."*  This  was  in  1778, 
when  the  most  that  could  be  assumed  was  a  prophecy  of  the 
result  of  the  French  and  American  alliance. 

Frederick  von  der  Trenck,  the  Prussian  whose  adventures 
have  given  his  memoirs  a  special  interest,  asserted  on  his  trial 


FREDERICK  I.  229 


before  the  "Revolutionary  Tribunal  of  Paris,  July  0,  179 1,  that  he 
made  Franklin's  acquaintance  in  England  in  1774,  and  was  the 
author  of  the  line  which  has  been  attributed  to  Turgot.  --  GAR- 
TENLAUBE,  1863  :  Last  Hours  of  Baron  Trenck. 

Felix  Nogaret,  an  almanac-poet,  having  translated  Turgot's 
hexameter  into  French  (//  6te  an  del  la  foudre  et  le  sceptre  aux 
tyrans),  sent  it  to  Franklin  with  three  pages  of  complimentary 
commentary.  Franklin's  reply  may  be  thus  translated :  "  Sir, 
I  have  received  the  letter  in  which,  having  overwhelmed  me  with 
a  torrent  of  compliments  I  regret  not  feeling  worthy  of,  you 
ask  my  opinion  of  the  translation  of  a  Latin  verse.  I  am  too 
little  of  a  connoisseur  of  the  elegance  and  subtleties  of  your  ad- 
mirable language,  to  dare  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  poetry  which 
is  to  be  found  in  this  verse.  [In  writing  "  de  la  poesie  qui  DOIT 
se  trouver  dans  ce  vers,"  Franklin  showed  himself  a  subtle  con- 
noisseur of  French.]  I  only  wish  you  to  notice  two  inexact 
expressions  in  the  original.  In  spite  of  my  experiments  in 
electricity,  the  lightning  still  strikes  our  nose  or  our  beard ;  and, 
so  far  as  the  tyrant  is  concerned,  more  than  a  million  of  us 
united  to  snatch  his  sceptre  from  him." 

FREDERICK  I. 

[Emperor  of  Germany;  called  from  his  red  beard  "  Barbarossa; " 
born  1121;  elected  emperor,  1152;  crowned  at  Rome,  1155;  subjected 
Milan,  1158;  defeated  by  the  Lombards  near  Legnauo,  1176,  and 
made  peace  with  the  Pope;  joined  the  third  crusade,  1189,  and  was 
drowned  in  the  Cydnus,  1190.] 

My  son  is  slain !    But  Christ  still  lives :  let  us  on,  my 
men! 

When  the  death  of  his  son,  who  accompanied  him  on  the 
crusade,  was  reported  to  him.  The  father  himself  was  soon  to 
perish ;  and,  as  his  body  was  not  recovered,  he  was  popularly 
supposed  to  be  sleeping  in  the  Kyffhauser  Cave,  near  Salzburg, 
where  a  peasant  maintained  that  he  saw  him,  "at  a  marble 
table,"  says  Carlyle  ("Frederick  the  Great"),  "leaning  on  his 
elbow,  winking,  only  half  asleep ;  beard  had  grown  through  the 
table,  and  streamed  out  on  the  floor." 

The  Duke  of  Ormond  (1010-88)  said,  on  hearing  of  the  death 


230  FREDERICK  III. 


of  the  brave  and  accomplished  Earl  of  Ossory  in  1680,  "  I  would 
not  exchange  my  dead  son  for  any  living  son  in  Christendom." 

FREDERICK  III. 

[Emperor  of  Germany;  born  1415;  elected  emperor,  1440;  crowned 
at  Rome,  1452;  was  incapable  of  successfully  defending  the  empire 
against  Matthias  Corvinus  of  Hungary,  who  took  possession  of 
Vienna  and  Croatia,  1485;  died  1493.] 

A.  E.  1.  O.  U. 

These  vowels,  which  Frederick  stamped  upon  coins  and  med- 
als, and  inscribed  upon  public  buildings,  were  originally  used 
at  the  coronation  of  his  predecessor  Albert  II.,  in  the  sense, 
"  Albert us  Electus  Imperator  Optamus  Vicat."  The  motto  was 
changed,  after  the  coronation  of  Frederick  III.  at  Aix-la-Cha- 
pelle,  to  "  Arcliidux  Electus  Imperator  Optime  Vivat"  The  librarian 
of  Leopold  I.  saw  a  manuscript  of  Frederick's  in  which  a  German 
version  was  given,  "Alter  Ehren  1st  Oesterreich  Voll  "  (Austria  is 
crowned  with  all  honor)  ;  and  the  emperor  removed  an  unflatter- 
ing inscription  in  the  Burg,  "  Aller  Erst  1st  Oesterreich  Verdorben." 
As,  however,  there  was  no  generally  accepted  motto  for  these 
letters,  learned  men  amused  their  leisure  in  fitting  words  to  the 
vowels :  one  of  them,  Rasch,  organist  of  the  Schottencloster, 
about  1580,  discovered  two  hundred  possible  applications.  Three 
of  them  are  well  known  in  Germany  :  "Austrian  Est  Imperare  Orbl 
Universo ; "  "Austria  Erll  In  Orbe  Ultima;  "  and,  "  Alles  Erdreich 
1st  Oesterreich  Unterthan."  The  last  may  be  rendered  in  English, 
"  Austria's  Empire  Is  Over  all  Universal." 

John,  Elector  of  Saxony,  called  "  the  Steadfast  "  (der  Bestdn- 
dige)  had  a  motto,  "  Verbum  Dei  Manet  In  JEternum"  (The  word 
of  God  endures  throughout  eternity),  the  initials  of  which, 
V.D.M.I.^E.,  he  had  engraved,  says  Carlyle,  "on  all  the  furniture 
of  his  existence,  on  his  standards,  pictures,  plate,  on  the  very 
sleeves  of  his  lackeys,  and,  I  can  perceive,  on  his  own  deep  heart 
first  of  all."  -  -  Frederick  //.,  III.  5. 

Ulric  von  Wiirttemberg,  an  Imperialist  general  (1617-71),  had 
the  initials  of  the  following  words  embroidered  on  his  livery: 
"  Gottes  Wort  Bleibt  Eiciy  "  (God's  word  lasts  forever). 


FREDERICK   THE    GREAT.  231 

FREDERICK  II. 

[King  of  Prussia,  called  "  the  Great;  "  born  in  Berlin,  Jan.  24, 1712; 
ascended  the  throne,  1740;  invaded  Silesia  in  the  war  of  the  Austrian 
succession;  invited  Voltaire  to  Berlin,  1750;  invaded  Saxony  in  the 
Seven  Years'  War,  175G;  gained  the  battle  of  Rossbach  over  the 
French  in  November,  and  over  the  Austrians  at  Leuthen  in  Decem- 
ber, 1757;  over  the  Russians  at  Zorndorf,  1758;  routed  at  Kunersdorf, 
1759,  when  Berlin  was  occupied  by  the  enemy;  acquired  Polish  Prus- 
sia, 1772;  died  Aug.  17,  178G.] 

One  cannot  imitate  Voltaire  without  being  Voltaire. 

The  first  letter  from  Frederick,  then  crown-prince,  to  Voltaire, 
was  dated  Berlin,  Aug.  8,  173G  ;  in  it  he  said  that  the  French 
philosopher  inspired  one  to  follow  in  his  footsteps,  but  the 
burden  was  too  great.  It  led  to  a  correspondence  in  which  the 
prince  acknowledged  himself  an  apprentice"  in  the  poet's  trade. 
"Voltaire,"  says  Carlyle,  "at  sight  of  the  princely  productions  is 
full  of  encouragement,  —  does  a  little  in  correcting,  solecisms  of 
grammar  chiefly."  Johnson's  opinion  of  Frederick's  style  was 
severe  :  "  He  writes  just  as  you  may  suppose  Voltaire's  foot-boy 
to  write,  who  has  been  his  amanuensis." 

I  am  above  grammar. 

During  the  time  of  their  early  intimacy  Voltaire  endeavored 
to  flatter  the  prince  by  telling  him  that  he  wrote  better  French 
than  Louis  XIV.,  who  made  frequent  mistakes  in  spelling. 
Frederick  replied,  that  Louis  was  a  great  monarch  in  an  infinite 
number  of  respects.  A  mistake  in  spelling  could  not  tarnish  the 
brilliancy  of  his  reputation,  established  by  so  many  actions 
which  had  immortalized  him.  "  It  belonged  to  him  to  say  in 
every  sense,  Ccesar  est  supra  grammaticam"  added  the  prince. 
He  referred  to  the  celebrated  retort  of  the  Emperor  Sigismund 
at  the  Council  of  Constance  in  1414.  In  his  opening  speech  lie 
said  to  the  assembled  prelates,  referring  to  the  Bohemian  refor- 
mation, "  See  to  it  that  this  nefarious  schism  is  eradicated  " 
(Date  operam  ut  ilia  infanda  scliisma  eradicetur)  ;  whereupon  he  was 
reminded  by  Cardinal  Placentinus,  that  achix/mi  was  of  the  neuter 
and  not  of  the  feminine  gender.  To  this  the  emperor  replied, 
"  Placentinus,  however  agreeable  you  may  be  to  others,  you  please 


232  FREDERICK  THE  GREAT. 

us  not  when  you  assert  that  we  have  less  authority  than  the 
grammarian  Priscianus,  whom  you  say  I  have  offended."  The 
mot  more  generally  quoted  has  the  authority  of  Menzel  ("  History 
of  the  Germans,"  chap.  325)  :  "  Ego  sum  rex  Romanus  et  supra 
grammaticam"  (I  am  king  of  the  Romans  and  above  grammar). 

Moliere  did  not  exempt  his  royal  master  from  the  rule  of 
syntax ;  for  he  alludes  to  "  grammar  which  controls  even  kings  " 
(la  grammcdre  qui  salt  regenter  jusquaux  rots).  — Les  Femmes  Sa- 
vantes,  II.  6. 

Xapoleon  was  a  notoriously  bad  speller :  he  excused  it  by  say- 
ing, "  A  man  occupied  with  public  business  cannot  attend  to 
orthography." 

Pope  John  XII.,  in  his  reply  to  the  council  which  preferred 
charges  against  him  of  gross  misconduct,  used  a  double  nega- 
tive, "  so  that  you  may  not  have  power  to  perform  mass  or  to 
ordain  no  one  "  (ut  non  habeatis  licentiam  missarn  celebrare  aut  nul- 
lum  ordinare).  "The  council  replied  by  a  letter  of  humorous 
expostulation,"  says  Bryce,  "  begging  the  Pope  to  reform  both 
his  morals  and  his  Latin."  —  Holy  Roman  Empire,  chap.  ix. 

The  king  has  sent  me  some  of  his  dirty  linen  to  wash. 

Writing,  in  174*2,  of  their  familiar  intercourse,  as  that  of 
Terence  with  Scipio,  Voltaire  remarked,  "  You  will  say  that  I  am 
not  Terence:  true,  but  neither  is  he  altogether  Scipio."  This 
was  the  time  when  he  called  Frederick  "the  Solomon  of  the 
North."  Afterwards,  when  coolness  had  succeeded  to  the  poet's 
early  enthusiasm,  he  added,  "Epithets  cost  nothing."  He  also 
styled  Catherine  II.  "the  Semiramis  of  the  Xorth." 

Voltaire  wrote,  Oct.  29,  1751,  when  his  relations  with  the 
Prussian  king  were  on  a  doubtful  footing :  « The  man  who 
fell  from  the  top  of  a  steeple,  and  who,  finding  himself  softly 
cushioned  in  the  air,  said,  '  Good,  provided  it  lasts,'  resembles 
me  not  a  little." 

The  change  of  their  relations,  from  the  time  when  Voltaire 
used  to  flatter  Frederick's  French,  is  seen  by  a  remark  which 
Maupertuis  circulated  to  the  poet's  discredit.  It  was  the  reply 
of  Voltaire  to  Gen.  Manstein,  who  asked  him  to  revise  some 
papers  he  had  written  on  Russia :  "  The  king  has  just  sent  me 
some  of  his  dirty  linen  to  wash  :  I  will  wash  yours  at  another 


FREDERICK  THE   GREAT.  233 

»  * 

time"  (Voila  le  roi  qu'f  m*envoit  son  linge  a  blanch ir:  je  blancliirai 
le  votre  une  autre  fois).  Repeated  to  the  king,  it  destroyed  Vol- 
taire's position  at  court.  Frederick,  in  submitting  his  "dirty 
linen,"  excused  the  mistakes  his  compositions  might  contain,  by 
saying,  "  We  must  leave  him  the  pleasure  of  finding  some  fault." 
He  now  applied  to  Voltaire  the  phrase,  "  fruitful  of  uneasiness  " 
(fe'cond  en  inquietudes),  which  Marshal  Catinat  had  previously 
used  in  a  more  complimentary  sense,  in  a  letter  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  genius  of  Vauban,  and  the  feeling  with  which 
he  inspired  the  enemy. 

Napoleon,  on  his  return  from  Elba,  convoked  the  Legislative 
Assembly,  and  addressed  them  in  a  speech  of  power,  but  in  a 
tone  of  contemptuous  familiarity;  saying,  among  other  things, 
"  If  you  have  complaints  to  make,  take  another  occasion,  when, 
with  my  counsellors  and  myself,  we  may  discuss  your  griefs,  and 
I  will  see  if  they  have  any  foundation.  But  this  explanation 
must  be  in  private ;  for  dirty  linen  should  be  washed  at  home, 
not  in  public  "  (car  c'est  en  famille,  ce  n'est  pas  en  public,  quon 
lave  son  linge  sale).  Similar  advice  was  given  by  Voltaire  to 
the  Encyclopedists. 

We  squeeze  an  orange,  and  throw  away  the  rind. 

The  climax  of  the  king's  antipathy  to  Voltaire  is  expressed 
by  a  statement  to  his  friend  La  Mettraie,  in  September,  1751, 
that  he  should  want  Voltaire  a  year  longer.  "  We  squeeze  an 
orange,"  he  added,  "  and  throw  away  the  rind."  This  was  quoted 
by  Voltaire  himself  in  a  letter  to  Mine.  Denis,  La  Mettraie  died 
shortly  afterwards ;  and  the  king  inquired  anxiously  concerning 
his  last  hours,  —  whether  he  had  observed  all  the  Catholic  forms, 
etc.  Being  told  that  his  friend  died  like  a  philosopher,  Fred- 
erick remarked,  "  I  am  very  glad  of  it,  for  the  repose  of  his 
soul."  The  king's  real  opinion  of  such  men  is  illustrated  by 
his  saying,  "  If  I  wished  to  punish  a  province,  I  would  have  it 
governed  by  philosophers."  The  men  he  asked  to  his  table 
amused  his  leisure :  he  did  not  invite  them  into  his  cabinet. 

Voltaire  is  about  to  set. 

Seven  years  after  his  accession  to  the  throne,  Frederick  wrote 
to  Baculard  d' Arnaud,  in  acknowledgment  of  some  rhymes  :  — 


234  FREDERICK  THE   GREAT. 

"  Voltaire  est  a  son  couehant, 
Vous  etes  a  votre  aurore;  ': 

which  Carlyle  renders,  "  Welcome,  young  Sunrise,  since  Voltaire 
is  about  to  set !  "  whereupon  the  latter,  insulted,  but  anxious  not 
to  be  supplanted,  started  on  his  fifth  and  last  visit  to  Berlin. 

Carlyle  has  a  poor  opinion  of  this  Baculard,  a  poet  once  patron- 
ized by  Voltaire  himself,  but  whom  Carlyle  calls  "a  conceited, 
foolish  young  fellow,  given  to  writing  verses  of  a  dissolute,  esu- 
rient, slightly  profligate  turn."  Rivarol  said  of  him,  that  "his 
ideas  resembled  the  panes  of  glass  in  a  glazier's  basket, — clear 
separately,  obscure  together  "  (claires  une  a  line,  et  obscures  toutes 
ensemble}.  The  only  good  thing  attributed  to  him  is  not  authen- 
tic :  when  Frederick,  in  one  of  his  philosophical  symposia,  asked 
him  if  he  still  believed  in  the  existence  of  God,  Baculard  re- 
plied, that  he  loved  to  think  there  was  a  being  superior  to  kings 
(faime  a  croire  a  un  etre  superieur  aux  rois). 

France  has  been  considered  thus  far  as  the  asylum  of 
unfortunate  monarchs  :  I  wish  that  my  capital  should 
become  the  temple  of  great  men. 

Letter  to  Voltaire,  Oct.  7,  1743. 

Thus  Frederick  said  to  Maupertuis,  who  had  been  sent  by 
the  French  Academy  to  Lapland  to  measure  a  degree  of  the 
meridian,  and  was  asked  to  organize  an  academy  at  Berlin, 
"  You  have  shown  the  figure  of  the  earth  to  mankind  :  show  also 
to  a  king  how  sweet  it  is  to  possess  such  a  man  as  you." 

Frederick  invited  Wolf,  banished  from  Halle  in  the  previous 
reign  for  his  independent  views,  to  return  ;  saying,  "  A  man  that 
seeks  truth,  and  loves  it,  must  be  reckoned  precious  in  any  human 
society." 

Every  man  must  get  to  heaven  his  own  way. 

The  tolerant  spirit  which  Frederick  showed  on  his  accession 
to  the  throne  is  illustrated  by  his  comment  upon  the  report  of 
the  Board  of  Religion,  as  Carlyle  calls  it,  June  22,  1740,  that  the 
Roman-Catholic  schools  for  the  children  of  soldiers  were  used 
for  sectarian  purposes.  On  the  margin  of  the  report  the  king- 
wrote,  with  spelling  in  this  instance  unconnected  by  Voltaire : 
"  All  religions  must  be  tolerated,  and  the  Fiscal  must  have  an 


FREDERICK  THE   GREAT.  235 

eye  that  none  of  them  make  unjust  encroachment  on  the  other; 
for  in  this  country  every  man  must  get  to  heaven  his  own  way  " 
(den  [denn~]  hier  mus  [inuss']  ein  jeder  nach  seiner  Fasson  selich 
[Fctfon  seliy']  werden). 

No  monarch  was  less  particular  in  maintaining  his  royal 
dignity.  He  commanded  his  attendants  to  take  down  from  a 
high  wall  a  scurrilous  placard  upon  himself,  which  a  crowd  was 
trying  to  read,  and  put  it  where  they  could  see  it  better.  "  My 
subjects  and  I,"  Frederick  said,  "have  come  to  an  agreement 
which  satisfies  us  both.  They  are  to  say  what  they  please, 
and  I  am  to  do  what  I  please."  He  seems  to  have  been  more 
scrupulous  in  regard  to  his  personal  dignity.  Thus  Heinrich 
von  Schmidt,  advancing  towards  Frederick,  after  his  accession, 
says  Carlyle,  with  jocose  countenance,  in  the  manner  of  their 
old  comradeship,  met  unexpected  rebuff  from  the  words,  "My 
cousin,  I  am  now  king  !  "  (Jetzt  bin  ich  Konig  /) 

The  motto  of  Frederick's  political  testament  was  written  in 
French  with  his  own  hand :  "  A  prince  is  the  first  servant  and 
first  magistrate  of  the  state  "  (  Un  prince  est  le  premier  serviteur  et 
le  premier  magistral  de  1'e'tat).  The  aphorism  occurs  at  least  four 
times  in  his  works,  and  may  have  been  derived  from  Massillon, 
the  study  of  whose  sermons  powerfully  affected  his  youth.  The 
French  pulpit-orator  addressed  Louis  XV.,  then  nine  years  old, 
thus  :  "  The  freedom  princes  owe  their  people  is  the  freedom  of 
law,  of  which  you  are  only  the  minister  and  first  depositary." 
He  drew  the  sentiment  from  Seneca :  "  The  king  will  show  that 
he  belongs  to  the  republic,  not  the  republic  to  him  "  (Rex  pro- 
vabit  non  rem publicam  suam  esse,  sed  se  reipublicce).  —  De  dementia, 
i.  19. 

The  thought  expressed  in  his  testament  was  the  echo  of  that 
by  which  his  accession  was  inaugurated ;  for  on  its  official 
announcement  Frederick  said,  June  2,  1740,  "My  will  henceforth 
is,  if  it  ever  chance  that  my  particular  interest  and  the  general 
good  of  my  countries  should  seem  to  go  against  each  other,  in 
that  case,  my  will  is,  that  the  latter  always  be  preferred." 

He  answered  his  mother,  when  she  for  the  first  time  addressed 
him  as  "your  Majesty,"  "Call  me  son,  that  is  the  title  of  all 
others  most  agreeable  to  me." 

"  Toleration,  in  Frederick's  spiritual  circumstances,"  says  Car- 


236  FREDERICK  THE   GREAT. 

lyle,  "  was  perhaps  no  great  feat ;  "  but  one  hardly  expects  to 
hear  of  freedom  of  the  press.  His  first  act  was  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  a  newspaper  "frondent  with  genial  leafy  speculation." 
Accordingly,  after  allowing  unlimited  freedom  to  the  "  Berliner- 
zeitung,"  we  find  a  cabinet-minister  writing  to  the  minister  of 
war,  June  5,  1760,  that  he  had  taken  the  liberty  of  suggesting 
that  a  certain  court  was  very  sensitive  on  this  point,  but  that  the 
king  replied,  "  If  newspapers  are  intended  to  be  interesting,  they 
must  not  be  hampered  "  (Gazetten,  wenn  sie  interessant  sein  sollten, 
nicht  genirt  werden  milsseii). 

Of  the  principles  which  governed  Frederick  as  ruler  we  have 
illustrations  in  sayings  which  apply  to  all  times  and  all  forms 
of  government ;  as,  for  instance,  in  objecting  to  a  medal  in  his 
honor  proposed  by  Maupertuis,  ' '  Let  us  do  good  without  hope 
of  recompense ;  let  us  fulfil  our  duty  without  ostentation ;  and 
our  name  will  live  among  people  of  worth."  "Wellington  re- 
peated the  sentiment  more  laconically :  "  There  is  little  or  noth- 
ing in  this  life  worth  living  for,  but  we  can  all  of  us  go  straight 
forward  and  do  our  duty." 

On  confirming  a  nomination  which  Maupertuis  had  made, 
Frederick  added  a  remark  not  unworthy  of  attention  in  repub- 
lics :  "  Bad  appointments  to  office  are  a  threefold  inconvenience : 
they  are  an  injury  to  public  business;  they  dishonor  the  prince; 
and  they  are  a  kind  of  robbery  of  those  who  deserve  advance- 
ment." The  ability  to  perform  well  one's  part  depended  on  the 
man,  not  on  his  rank.  "Talents,"  said  the  king,  "are  distributed 
by  nature,  without  regard  to  genealogies ;  "  and  again,  "  I  love 
the  lineage  of  heroes,  but  I  love  merit  more."  Indeed,  the  man 
of  camps  and  battle-fields  seems  to  have  had  little  respect  for  offi- 
cial emptinesses.  When  told  of  a  Saxon  minister  of  state  who 
had  three  hundred  wigs,  "  So  many  perukes,"  he  exclaimed,  "for 
such  an  insignificant  head  \ " 

I  will   attack   them   even  though  they   stood  on  the 
steeples  of  Breslau. 

When  Frederick  was  marching  against  Breslau,  November, 
1757,  in  his  second  expedition  against  Silesia,  during  the  Seven 
Years'  War.  It  was  in  this  crisis  of  his  career  that  the  king- 
addressed  his  generals,  telling  them,  that,  in  defiance  of  the  rules 


FREDERICK  THE   GREAT.  237 

of  war,  he  meant  to  attack  the  Austrians,  and  that,  if  any  one  of 
them  felt  unequal  to  the  task,  "  he  can  have  his  discharge  this 
evening,  and  shall  not  suffer  the  least  reproach  from  nie ;  "  and 
when  all  swore  to  stand  by  him,  "  Good-night,  gentlemen,"  he 
said:  "shortly  we  shall  either  have  beaten  the  enemy,  or  we  never 
see  one  another  again."  About  this  time  dates  the  anecdote  of 
the  deserter,  which  Carlyle  says  has  merit  as  a  myth :  "  What 
made  thee  desert,  then?  "  —  "  H'm,  alas  !  your  Majesty,  we  were 
got  so  down  in  the  world,  and  had  such  a  time  of  it !  "  —  "  Well, 
replied  Frederick,  "try  it  one  day  more,  and  if  we  cannot  mend 
matters,  thou  and  I  will  both  desert !  "  Carlyle  dismisses  the 
tradition  that  the  king  shouted  to  his  wavering  troops,  at  Kolin, 
June  18,  1757,  as  stated  by  Martin  (''History  of  France,"  vol. 
XV.  chap,  xcviii.)  ;  or,  as  others  say,  at  Kunersdorf,  Aug.  12, 
1759,  "  Dogs,  would  ye  live  forever?"  (Hunde,  wollt  ihr  ewuj 
leben  ?)  It  was  after  Kunersdorf,  when  his  coat  was  riddled  with 
bullets,  and  two  horses  had  been  killed  under  him,  that  Fred- 
erick declared  in  writing  to  minister  Finckenstein,  "  The  con- 
sequences of  this  battle  will  be  wrorse  than  the  battle  itself. 
I  will  not  survive  the  destruction  of  my  country.  Farewell 
forever." 

He  wrote  to  Voltaire  in  1757,  that,  although  threatened  with 
shipwreck,  he  will  look  the  tempest  in  the  face,  and  think,  live, 
and  die  like  a  king  :  — 

"  Pour  moi,  menace  dti  naufrage, 
Je  dois,  en  affrontant  1'orage, 
Penser,  vivre,  et  mourir  en  roi." 

OSuvres,  vol.  ii. 

Of  less  serious  form  is  his  remark  to  the  Austrian  minister 
Thugut,  who  left  on  the  floor  the  red  tape  belonging  to  a  bundle 
of  papers  :  "  Take  it,  sir:  I  don't  care  for  other's  goods  "  (Tenez, 
monsieur:  je  n'aime  pas  le  bien  cTautrui).  This  was  just  after 
Frederick  had  taken  Silesia,  the  very  considerable  "  goods  "  of 
Thugut's  mistress,  Maria  Theresa.  Of  her  and  her  royal  sister, 
Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  the  king  said  at  the  time  of  the  parti- 
tion of  Poland,  "  I  would  as  soon  write  the  Jewish  history  in 
madrigals,  as  make  three  sovereigns  agree,  especially  when  two 


are  women." 


FREDERICK   THE   GREAT. 

Frederick  said  to  the  Bishop  of  Ermeland,  two-thirds  of  whose 
revenues  he  had  appropriated,  "  Under  your  mantle  I  hope 
to  slip  into  paradise."  —  "Hardly,"  was  the  response:  "your 
majesty  has  cut  my  mantle  too  close."  The  king  received  two 
even  sharper  answers  from  Sir  Hugh  Eliot,  who  was  the  English 
ambassador  at  Berlin.  Frederick  maliciously  asked  him,  allud- 
ing to  the  invasion  of  the  Carnatic,  who  Hyder  Ali  was,  "  who 
arranges,  matters  so  well  for  you  in  India"  (qui  $ait  si  lien 
arranger  vos  affaires  aux  Indes).  The  imperturbable  ambassador, 
referring  in  his  turn  to  Frederick's  conquest  of  Silesia  and  the 
partition  of  Poland,  replied,  "  He  is  an  old  despot,  who  has  exten- 
sively pillaged  his  neighbors,  but  is  now,  thank  God,  in  his 
dotage!"  (C"es£  un  vieux  despote,  qui  a  beaucoup  pillc  ses  voisins, 
mais  qui,  Dieu  merci,  commence  a  radoter!)  This  is,  however,  con- 
sidered apocryphal  by  Carlyle  ("Frederick  the  Great/'  XXI.  5). 
The  following,  if  not  true,  is  equally  ben  trovato.  When  Frede- 
rick asked  Sir  Hugh,  ''What  do  they  say  of in  London?  " 

(referring  to  the  Prussian  minister,  described  as  "  a  notoriously 
ill-conditioned  fellow,"  appointed  merely  to  spite  the  English 
government),  Eliot  replied,  "  A  worthy  representative  of  your 
Majesty  "  (digne  representant  de  votre  majeste').  After  this  the 
free-spoken  ambassador  was  transferred  to  Copenhagen. 

I  am  obliged  to  keep   that  young   gentleman  in  my 
eye. 

Frederick  enjoyed  the  society  of  Joseph  II.,  whose  radical 
views  of  government  harmonized  with  his  own  early  aspirations. 
Pie  saw  in  him,  however,  an  ambition  which  needed  watching; 
and,  when  some  one  remarked  upon  the  different  portraits  of  the 
emperor  which  adorned  the  walls  of  the  palaces  of  Berlin,  Pots- 
dam,  and  Sans-Souci,  "  Ah,  yes !  "  said  Frederick,  "I  am  obliged 
to  keep  that  young  gentleman  in  my  eye  "  (c'est  un  jeune  hoinme 
que  je  ne  dois  pas  perdre  de  vue). 

At  the  close  of  the  Seven  Years'  War,  when  Frederick  was 
dining  with  the  Emperor  Joseph  II.  at  Xeisse,  he  spied  the 
Austrian  general  Laudon  about  to  seat  himself  at  the  foot  of  the 
table  on  the  other  side.  "  Come  here,"  said  the  king,  making  a 
place  for  him  next  to  himself:  "I  have  always  wanted  you  by 
my  side,  rather  than  opposite  to  me." 


HOOKHAM  FRERE.  239 

The  finest  day  of  life  is  that  on  which  one  quits  it. 

As  Frederick  was  building  a  country  house  near  the  palace  of 
Potsdam,  he  was  heard  to  say,  looking  at  the  royal  tombs  close 
at  hand,  "Once  there,  one  will  be  out  of  bother"  (Oui,  alors  je 
serai  ,s<ms  soucl)  ;  from  which,  and  the  fact  that  the  cottage  was 
to  be  a  retreat  from  the  cares  of  official  life,  came  the  name  it 
has  since  borne,  "  Sans-Souci."  Tt  was  there  that  Frederick  died ; 
but  he  was  not  buried  in  the  tomb  near  by,  but  in  the  garrison- 
church  of  Potsdam.  His  last  words,  about  midnight,  Aug.  17, 
1784,  were,  "We  are  over  the  mountain,  we-shall  go  better  now" 
(La  montayne  est  passe'e,  nous  irons  mi.eux).  Of  doubtful  authen- 
ticity is  the  sardonic  remark  to  his  nephew,  the  crown  prince, 
when  the  court  physician  held  out  a  hope  of  recovery  :  "  Pardon 
me,  my  nephew,  if  I  keep  you  waiting !  "  and  the  statement  that 
he  interrupted  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  containing  the  words, 
"Naked  came  I  into  the  world,  and  naked  I  shall  go  out,"  — 
"Not  quite  naked,  I  shall  have  my  uniform  on !  " 

HOOKHAM  FRERE. 

[The  Rt.  Hon.  John  Hookham  Frere,  man  of  letters;  born  in  Nor- 
folk, England,  1760;  entered  Parliament,  1796;  ambassador  to  Spain, 
1808;  one  of  the  founders  of  "  The  Quarterly  Review;  "  died  1846.] 

A   Conservative   is  only  a  Tory  who  is  ashamed  of 
himself. 

When  the  names  of  Conservative  and  Liberal  be"'an  to  be 

O 

substituted  for  the  old-fashioned  Tory  and  Whig.  He  also  said, 
"  It  is  not  of  so  much  importance  what  you  learn  at  school,  as 
how  you  learn  it." 

JOHN  HENRY   FUSELI. 

[An  historical  painter;  born  in  Zurich  about  1742;  visited  England, 
1763;  became  a  painter  by  advice  of  Reynolds;  professor  at  the  Royal 
Academy,  1749;  published  "  Lectures  on  Art"  and ''Aphorisms;  " 
died  1825.] 

D Nature,  she  always  puts  me  out ! 

His  forte  was  the  romantic  style,  in  which  he  was  grand,  but 
often  extravagant. 


240  THOMAS   GAINSBOROUGH. 

When  jSTorthcote  asked  him  how  he  liked  his  painting  of  the 
angel  meeting  Balaam  and  his  ass,  Fuseli  replied,  "  You  are  an 
angel  at  an  ass,  but  an  ass  at  an  angel." 

Fuseli  called  Titian's  portrait  of  Paul  III.  and  his  two  nephews 
"True  History;"  and  Northcote  said  that  "portrait-painting 
often  runs  into  history,  and  history  into  portrait,  without  one 
knowing  it ;  "  and  again,  "  The  greatest  history-painters  have 
always  been  the  ablest  portrait-painters." 


THOMAS  GAINSBOROUGH. 

[An  English  landscape  and  portrait  painter;  born  at  Sudbury, 
1727;  settled  in  London,  1775;  was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the 
Royal  Academy;  "the  greatest  colorist  since  Rubens,"  said  Ruskin 
of  him;  died  in  London,  August,  1788.] 

We  are  all  going  to  heaven,  and  Vandyke  is  of  the 
company. 

His  last  words. 


ABBE   GALIANI. 

[Ferdinando  Galiani,  an  Italian  political  economist,  called  by 
Grimm,  "Plato,  with  the  verve  and  antics  of  Harlequin,"  and  by 
Marmontel,  "  the  head  of  Machiavelli  on  the  shoulders  of  Harlequin; " 
born  at  Chieti,  1728;  secretary  of  legation  at  Paris,  1759,  where  he 
remained  many  years;  returning  to  Naples,  filled  administrative 
offices  from  1777-82;  died  1787.] 

Do  not  buy  your  house  in  the  Chaussee  d'Antin :   you 
must  buy  it  in  Philadelphia. 

Letter  to  Mme.  d'Epinay,  1776.  He  once,  when  in  poverty, 
sent  a  collection  of  lava  to  Benedict  XIV.,  with  the  words: 
"  Make  this  stone  become  bread  !  '  He  received  a  canonry. 

He  declared  of  politics :  "Fools  make  the  text,  and  men  of  wit 
the  commentaries"  (Les  sots  font  le  texte,  et  les  homines  d1  esprit  les 
commentaires.) 

When  some  one  said  the  trees  of  the  park  of  Versailles  were 
tall,  straight,  and  thin  (hauls,  di'oits,  et  minces)  ;  "Like  courtiers," 
added  the  abbe. 


GALILEO.  241 


GALILEO  GALILEI. 

[An  illustrious  Italian  philosopher,  commonly  called  Galileo;  born 
at  Pisa,  Feb.  15,  1564;  professor  of  mathematics  at  Pisa,  1589;  at 
Padua,  1592;  discovered  the  law  of  the  velocity  of  falling  bodies; 
adopted  the  Copernican  system;  invented  the  astronomical  telescope, 
by  which  he  discovered  the  satellites  of  Jupiter;  invited  to  Florence, 
1611 ;  forbidden  by  Paul  V.  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  the  motion  of  the 
earth;  published  (1632)  "  Dialogues  on  the  Ptolemaic  and  Copernican 
Systems,"  —  the  doctrines  of  which  he  was  compelled  to  recant; 
visited  by  Milton,  1638;  died  at  or  near  Florence,  January,  1642.] 

E  pur  si  muove! 

As  he  rose  from  the  kneeling  posture  in  which  he  signed  his 
recantation  of  the  Copernican  doctrines  of  the  relation  of  the 
earth  to  the  solar  system,  Galileo  is  said  to  have  whispered  to  a 
friend,  "  It  moves,  nevertheless." 

The  exhaustive  work, "  Galileo  Galilei  and  the  Roman  Curia," 
London,  1879,  in  which  Karl  von  Gebler  dispels  this  and  other 
fictions  connected  with  the  Italian  philosopher,  rests  upon  the 
Vatican  manuscript  containing  the  official  account  of  the  trial  of 
Galileo.  Napoleon  ordered  the  publication  of  this  important 
document,  which,  with  the  archives  of  the  Vatican,  was  removed 
from  Rome  to  Paris  in  1811.  Before  this  could  be  done,  how- 
ever, the  empire  fell,  and  the  manuscript  disappeared.  After 
much  search  and  diplomatic  correspondence,  it  was  found  in 
1845,  and  restored  to  Gregory  XVI.  by  Louis  Philippe.  No  good 
translation  of  it  was,  however,  made  until  Von  Gebler  was  per- 
mitted to  copy  it.  Having  studied  "  with  diplomatic  precision  " 
the  original  Act  of  Galileo's  trial,  Von  Gebler,  who  is  described 
as  "a  man  of  the  strictest  love  of  truth,"  felt  constrained  to 
declare  the  manuscript  to  be  genuine,  although  it  compelled 
him  to  withdraw  an  opinion  he  had  previously  advocated. 

From  this  manuscript  and  the  Acts  of  the  trial  it  is  to  be 
considered  proven  that  no  torture,  as  formerly  asserted,  was 
applied  to  Galileo,  but  that  only  a  threat  of  torture  was  made 
to  him  ;  that  he  was  lodged  in  the  palace  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
was  never  thrown  into  its  dungeons  ;  that  he  was  condemned  in 
1633,  for  doctrines  which  he  had  printed  at  Florence,  with  the 
ecclesiastical  imprimatur,  in  1632,  but  which  had  been  denounced 
in  1615,  —  that  "the  sun  is  the  centre  of  the  world,  and  im- 


242  GAMBETTA. 


movable,  and  that  the  earth  moves,  and  also  with  a  diurnal 
motion  ;  "  that  the  council  decided  that  Galileo  be  absolved  from 
all  the  censures  and  penalties  imposed  in  the  sacred  canons 
against  such  delinquents,  provided  that  he  first  abjure,  curse, 
and  detest  the  aforesaid  errors  and  heresies ;  that  but  seven  of 
the  ten  cardinals  composing  the  council  signed  this  sentence ; 
that,  in  accordance  therewith,  Galileo  was  compelled,  imme- 
diately after  hearing  it  read,  to  make  a  recantation,  humbly 
kneeling,  in  which  he  abandoned  "  the  false  position  that  the  sun 
is  the  centre  of  the  world,  and  immovable,  and  that  the  earth 
is  not  the  centre  of  the  world,  and  moves ; "  that,  on  the  day 
after  sentence  was  passed,  Urban  VIII.  exchanged  imprison- 
ment for  temporary  banishment  near  Rome,  and  afterwards  to 
Siena. 

"  It  is  not  known,"  says  Von  Gebler,  "  who  was  the  in- 
ventor of  the  assumed  exclamation,  E  pur  si  muove,  which 
sounds  well,  and  has  become  a  '  winged  word.'  Professor  Heis, 
who  has  devoted  a  treatise  to  the  origin  of  this  famous  say- 
ing, thinks  that  he  has  discovered  its  first  appearance  in  the 
'  Dictionnaire  Historique,'  Caen,  1789.  Professor  Grisar  tells  us, 
however,  that  in  the  *  Lehrbuch  der  Philosophischen  Geschichte,' 
published  at  "\Viirzburg,  1774,  fifteen  years  earlier,  the  follow- 
ing edifying  passage  occurs  :  '  Galileo  was  neither  sufficiently  in 
earnest  nor  steadfast  with  his  recantation;  for  the  moment  he 
rose  up,  when  his  conscience  told  him  that  he  had  sworn  falsely, 
he  cast  eyes  on  the  ground,  stamped  with  his  foot,  and  ex- 
claimed, E  pur  si  muove.'  "If,"  adds  Von  Gebler,  "Galileo 
had  uttered  these  words,  which  are  not  attributed  to  him 
by  any  of  his  contemporaries,  he  would  not  have  been  released 
two  days  afterwards  from  the  buildings  of  the  Holy  Office."  Nor 
is  it  true,  as  formerly  asserted  for  partisan  purposes,  that  his 
eyes  were  put  out,  or  that  he  was  obliged  to  recant  in  a  hair  shirt. 

LEON  GAMBETTA. 

[Born  at  Cahors,  France,  April  2,  1838;  admitted  to  the  Paris  bar, 
1860;  deputy,  1869;  minister  of  the  interior  and  of  war  in  the  govern- 
ment of  National  Defence,  1870;  member  of  the  Assembly,  of  which 
he  was  president,  1879;  prime  minister  from  November,  1881,  to  Jan- 
uary, 1882.] 


GAMBETTA.  243 


Demosthenes  before  the  pebbles. 

When  some  one  in  the  Corps  Legislatif  compared  Rouher  to 
Demosthenes,  young  Gambetta  exclaimed  from  the  gallery,  "  Be- 
fore the  pebbles!  "  (Avant  les  cailloux  /)  It  had  been  previously 
said  of  M.  Walckenaer,  perpetual  secretary  of  the  Academy  of 
Inscriptions,  1840-52,  whose  speech  in  public  was  slow  and  hesi- 
tating. "  Our  perpetual  secretary  is  Demosthenes  before  the  peb- 
bles," remarked  an  Academician.  "  Or  during  the  pebbles,"  added 
another. 

A  new  social  stratum. 

No  expression  of  recent  times  caused  more  controversy  be- 
tween the  conservatives  and  radicals  than  that  contained  in  a 
speech  by  Gambetta  at  Grenoble,  Sept.  26,  1872 :  "  I  foresee,  I 
feel,  I  announce,"  he  said,  "the  approach  and  the  presence  in 
political  affairs  of  a  new  social  element  (cPune  couclie  sociale 
nouvelle)  ;  of  a  new,  ardent,  intelligent  generation,  which  has 
appeared  since  the  fall  of  the  empire,  and  is  fitted  to  undertake 
the  administration  of  affairs,  to  protect  justice,  and  maintain  the 
rights  of  all."  Seeing  the  forces  arrayed  against  the  republic, 
he  made  famous  the  mot  of  his  friend  Peyrat:  "Clericalism  is 
the  enemy"  (Le  clcricalisme,  vo'da  Vennemi). 

Seeming  to  abandon  the  radicalism  of  his  earlier  days,  he 
introduced  into  the  political  vocabulary  a  new  word,  —  "  oppor- 
tunism ; "  but  as  early  as  Feb.  26,  1875,  he  had  announced  that 
"  moderation  is  reason  in  politics  "  {la  moderation,  c'est  la  raison 
politique).  It  may  have  been  at  a  time  when  the  prospect  of 
office  under  the  definitively  constituted  republic  made  him  wish 
to  be  freed  from  his  constituents  of  Belleville,  that  he  put  into 
circulation  another  mot :  "  No  man  is  a  statesman  who  cannot 
cut  off  his  tail"  (couper  sa  queue),  —  in  other  words,  who  can- 
not shake  off  his  followers. 

He  accepted  at  Havre,  April  18,  1872,  the  nickname  of  "  Com- 
mercial Traveller"  (commis-voyageur),  which  the  rapidity  of  his 
movements  during  the  war  had  fastened  upon  him,  and  which 
caused  Thiers  to  call  him  "wn  fou  furieux"  (a  furious  fool). 
"  I  am  indeed,"  he  said,  "  the  clerk  (commis)  and  the  explorer 
(yoyageur)  of  democracy."  He  might  have  thought  of  the  re- 


244  JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 

mark  of  Robespierre  in  the  National  Assembly,  May  17,  1790 : 
"  The  king  is  not  the  nation's  representative,  but  its  clerk ; "  at 
this  time,  according  to  Taine  ("  French  Revolution  "),  Condorcet 
demanded  that  the  king  should  be  "a  signature-machine." 
Thiers,  however,  was  unwilling  to  accept  a  position  vis-a-vis  a 
hostile  chamber,  which  might  reduce  him  to  the  mere  executant 
of  its  decrees  :  he  declared  in  Xovember,  1872,  "  I  will  not  be  a 
simple  clerk"  (un  simple  commas'). 

When  the  elections  of  1877  had  shown  that  the  republicans 
would  soon  administer  a  government  which  had  been  hitherto 
"a  republic  without  republicans,"  Gambetta  declared  at  Mar- 
seilles, Jan.  7,  1878,  that  he  was  "a  man  of  government,  and  not 
of  opposition  :  a  year  of  power  is  more  fruitful  than  ten  heroic 
years  of  opposition." 

He  must  submit  or  demit. 

The  alternative  position  in  which  Marshal  MacMahon,  pres- 
ident of  the  French  republic,  was  placed  by  the  result  of  the 
elections  to  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  in  1877.  Speaking  at 
Lille  in  August  of  that  year,  in  the  midst  of  the  electoral  cam- 
paign, in  which  the  conservative  government  was  exercising  an 
unexampled  pressure  to  defeat  the  "  363  "  republican  members 
of  the  old  chamber,  Gambetta  declared  that  "  when  France  has 
made  knowyn  her  sovereign  will,  believe  me,  one  must  submit 
or  demit"  (il  faudra  se  soumettre  ou  se  demetlre).  The  marshal- 
president  chose  to  demit. 

JAMES  A.   GAKFIELD. 

[Born  in  Cuyahoga  County,  Ohio,  Nov.  19,  1831;  member  of  the 
Ohio  Senate,  1859;  chief  of  staff,  and  major-general  in  the  civil  war; 
member  of  Congress,  1863-80;  elected  to  the  United-States  Senate; 
President  of  the  United  States  from  March  4  to  Sept.  19, 1881,  when 
he  died  by  assassination.] 

God  reigns,  and  the  government  at  "Washington  still 
lives. 

The  conclusion  of  a  brief  speech  made  by  Gen.  Garfield  at  a 
mass  meeting  in  front  of  the  Merchants'  Exchange  in  Xew  York 
City,  April  15,  1865,  the  day  of  President  Lincoln's  death.  The 


SIR  SAMUEL   GARTH.  245 

excited  throng  was  demanding  vengeance  upon  certain  news- 
papers for  utterances  considered  treasonable ;  two  men  lay  dying 
in  the  street  for  exulting  in  assassination,  and  telegrams  from 
Washington  gave  intimations  of  other  probable  victims  of  a  gen- 
eral conspiracy.  At  this  critical  moment,  a  man  known  to  but 
few  stepped  forward,  and,  beckoning  to  the  crowd  with  a  small 
flag,  spoke  these  words  in  a  clear  and  impressive  voice  :  "  Fel- 
low-citizens, —  Clouds  and  darkness  are  round  about  Him.  His 
pavilion  is  dark  waters  and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies.  Justice 
and  judgment  are  the  establishment  of  his  throne.  Mercy  and 
truth  shall  go  before  his  face.  God  reigns,  and  the  government 
at  Washington  still  lives."  The  effect  was  instantaneous.  The 
crowd  listened,  and  became  calm,  and  the  meeting  afterwards 
was  quietly  dissolved. 

Sixteen  years  later,  on  the  17th  of  July,  as  President  Garfield 
himself  lay  prostrate  from  the  assassin's  bullet,  he  called  for 
paper,  and  wrote  distinctly  his  name,  followed  by  "  stranyulalus 
pro  republica"'  (tortured  for  the  republic). 

SIR  SAMUEL   GARTH. 

[An  English  physician  and  poet,  born  in  Yorkshire;  settled  in 
London  about  1691,  where  he  was  noted  for  his  wit  and  colloquial 
powers;  wrote  "The  Dispensary,"  and  other  poems;  knighted  by 
George  I. ;  died  1718.] 

Dear  gentlemen,  let  me  die  a  natural  death. 

When  he  saw  his  physicians  consulting  together  just  before 
his  decease.  After  receiving  extreme  unction  he  said,  "I  am 
going  on  my  journey  :  they  have  greased  my  boots  already." 

Being  once  advised  at  a  late  hour  at  night  to  leave  his  club 
and  visit  his  patients,  he  replied,  "  Nine  of  them  have  such  bad 
constitutions,  that  all  the  physicians  in  the  world  cannot  save 
them ;  and  the  other  six  have  such  good  constitutions,  that  all 
the  physicians  in  the  world  cannot  kill  them." 

MADAME  DE   GEOFFRIN. 

[A  French  lady,  distinguished  for  her  patronage  of  learning  and 
the  fine  arts;  born  in  Paris,  1699;  was  intimate  with  many  celebrated 
characters;  died  1777.] 


246  GEORGE  II. 


That  gentleman,  sir,  was  my  husband :  he  is  dead. 

When  asked  who  a  quiet  old  gentleman  was,  who  had  not 
been  present  in  her  salon  for  a  month. 

GEORGE  II. 

[King  of  England;  only  son  of  George  I.;  born  at  Hanover,  1683; 
fought  against  the  French  at  Oudenarde,  1708;  became  king,  1727; 
gained  the  battle  of  Dettingen,  1743;  suppressed  the  rebellion  of  1745; 
became  the  ally  of  Prussia  in  the  Seven  Years'  War,  1756-62,  when 
his  forces  gained  a  series  of  victories  over  France  in  Canada,  India, 
and  at  sea;  died  Oct.  25,  1760.] 

In  this  country  ministers  are  king. 

Contrasting  parliamentary  government  with  the  petty  despot- 
isms of  Germany,  and  indicating  by  his  remark  his  appreciation 
of  the  relative  position  of  king  and  ministers  in  a  constitutional 
government.  When  Pitt,  his  prime  minister,  expressed  the 
wish  of  the  House  of  Commons,  that  Admiral  Byng  should  be 
pardoned,  the  king  replied,  "Sir,  you  have  taught  me  to  look  for 
the  sense  of  my  subjects  in  another  place  than  in  the  House  of 
Commons ;  "  meaning,  probably,  that  not  so  much  the  ministers 
were  king,  as  the  people.  Voltaire  wrote  in  the  preface  of  the 
"  Henriade,"  that  Byng  was  hanged  (having  failed  to  relieve 
Minorca  besieged  by  the  French  with  a  superior  force)  "  to  en- 
courage the  others  "  {pour  encourager  les  autres). 

George  I.  found  that  sovereignty  in  England  had  its  limita- 
tions, if  the  following  story  be  true,  which  is  told  in  the  king's 
own  words:  "This  is  a  strange  country.  The  first  morning  after 
my  arrival  at  St.  James's,  I  looked  out  of  my  window,  and  saw 
a  park  with  walks,  a  canal,  etc.,  which  they  told  me  were  mine. 
The  next  day  Lord  Chetwynd,  the  ranger  of  my  park,  sent  me  a 
fine  brace  of  carp  out  of  my  canal,  and  I  w~as  told  I  must  give 
five  guineas  to  Lord  C.'s  servant  for  bringing  my  own  carp  out  of 
my  canal  in  my  own  park." 

Challenged  by  a  Jacobite  lady  at  a  masked  ball  to  drink  to 
the  health  of  the  Pretender,  George  II.  gallantly  replied,  —  with, 
however,  a  suggestive  use  of  the  word  '; unfortunate,"  —  "I  drink 
with  pleasure  the  health  of  all  unfortunate  princes." 


GEORGE  III.  247 


GEORGE  III. 

[King  of  England;  grandson  of  George  II.;  born  June  4,  1738; 
ascended  the  throne,  1700;  at  first  under  the  influence  of  Lord  Bute; 
on  his  resignation  the  Grenville  ministry  harassed  the  American 
Colonies,  which  during  the  ministry  of  Lord  North  gained  their  inde- 
pendence, peace  being  signed  with  the  United  States,  France,  and 
Spain,  in  1783;  the  wars  against  the  French  republic  and  Napoleon 
occupied  the  later  years  of  the  king's  life,  who  died  after  ten  years' 
seclusion  from  affairs,  January,  1820.] 

Born   and   educated  in  this   country,   I  glory   in   the 
name  of  Briton. 

Words  added  by  himself  to  his  first  speech  to  Parliament, 
1760.  He  was  riding  out  when  news  of  the  death  of  George  II. 
reached  him.  He  remarked  aloud,  without  betraying  any  emo- 
tion, that  his  horse  had  fallen  lame,  and  turned  towards  home, 
where  he  said  to  his  groom,  "  I  have  said  this  horse  is  lame :  I 
forbid  you  to  say  the  contrary." 

One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  knight  a  gentleman  named  Day. 
"  Now,"  said  he,  "  I  know  that  I  am  king,  for  I  have  turned  Day 
into  knight." 

When  Lord  Eldon,  in  answer  to  his  question,  told  him  he  read 
his  speech  at  the  opening  of  a  Parliament  very  well ;  "  I  am  glad 
of  that,"  said  his  Majesty,  "for  there  was  nothing  in  it."  Kings' 
speeches,  like  Charles  II. 's  actions,  are  the  work  of  their  minis- 
ters ;  and  this  particular  one  might  have  been  the  composition  of 
the  lord  chancellor. 

When  told  that  a  handsome  house  near  Richmond  belonged 
to  his  Majesty's  card-maker,  the  king  said,  "This  man's  cards 
have  all  turned  up  trumps." 

Rather  than   submit  to  the  hard  terms  proposed  by 
Pitt,  I  would  die  in  the  room  I  now  stand  in. 

To  Grenville,  on  accepting  his  resignation  after  the  passage  of 
the  obnoxious  legislation  against  America,  1763.  The  king's 
obstinacy  only  prolonged  a  useless  struggle  :  thus  much  later 
in  his  life  he  said  of  Catholic  emancipation,  "I  can  quit  my 
palace,  and  live  in  a  cottage;  I  can  lay  my  head  on  a  block,, 
and  lose  my  life:  but  I  cannot  break  my  oath."  In  the  case 
of  America,  however,  he  accepted  the  result  of  the  Revolution 


248  GEOEGE  IV. 


with  a  good  grace,  and  received  John  Adams,  the  first  minister 
of  the  L^nited  States  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  with  the  words, 
"  I  was  the  last  to  consent  to  the  separation  ;  but  the  separation 
having  been  made,  and  having  become  inevitable,  I  have  always 
said,  as  I  say  now,  that  I  would  be  the  first  to  meet  the  friend- 
ship of  the  United  States  as  an  independent  power." 

But  was  there  ever  such  stuff  as  great  part  of  Shake- 
speare? Is  there  not  sad  stuff?  But  one  must  not 
say  so. 

To  Miss  Burney.  George  III.  took  his  dislike  of  poetry  by 
descent.  His  grandfather,  the  hero  of  Dettingen,  was  more 
soldier  than  scholar,  and,  after  saying  that  he  could  see  no  merit 
in  "that  Pope,"  of  whom  he  heard  so  much,  added,  "I  hear  a 
great  deal,  too,  of  Shakespeare ;  but  I  can't  read  him,  he  is  such 
a  bombast  fellow."  His  prejudice  extended  to  art;  for  when 
told  that  Hogarth,  of  whom  he  had  also  heard,  was  a  painter,  he 
replied,  "A  painter?  I  hate  painting,  and  poetry  too:  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  ever  did  any  good."  This  was  merely  an 
amplification  of  what  the  first  George  put  more  tersely,  when  in 
his  Boeotian  English  he  refused  to  allow  a  poem  to  be  dedicated 
to  him  :  "  I  hate  all  Boets  and  Bainters."  —  CAMPBELL  :  Life  of 
Lord  Mansjield,  chap,  xxx.,  note. 

George  the  Third  had  probably  never  read  Voltaire,  else  he 
could  have  fortified  his  opinion  with  the  slur  of  the  French 
poet,  who  called  the  divine  William  "  an  ugly  ape  "'  (il  n'e'tait 
qiiun  vilain  singe),  and  said  that  "he  was  the  Corneille  of  London, 
but  a  great  fool  anywhere  else  "  (un  grand  fou  d'ailleurs). 

GEORGE  IV. 

[King  of  England,  sometimes  called  "the  first  gentleman  of  Eu- 
rope; "  born  Aug.  12, 1762;  incurring  the  dislike  of  his  father,  attached 
himself  to  the  opposition;  appointed  regent,  1811;  continued  the 
foreign  policy  of  George  III.;  became  king,  1820;  Catholic  emanci- 
pation carried,  1829;  died  June,  1830.] 

I  think  I  saw  a  very  handsome  sprinkling  of  the 
nobility. 

When  Prince  of  Wales,  at  Lewes  races,  where  a  few  persons 
of  quality  got  a  drenching. 


GLADSTONE.  249 


Of  a  heavy-stepping  cavalry-officer  at  a  Brighton  ball,  the 
prince  said,  "  He  might  be  sent  back  to  America  as  a  republica- 
tion  of  the  Stamp  Act." 

On  one  occasion  Sheridan  told  him  that  Fox  sat  beside  Miss 
Pulteney  at  a  public  entertainment,  cooing  like  a  turtle-dove. 
George  remarked,  "  There  is  nothing  in  it.  I  saw  long  ago  that 
it  was  a  coup  manque" 

He  defended  the  existence  of  trial  by  jury  in  Caesar's  time  by 
quoting  Suetonius  :  "  JURE  ccesus  videtur." 

When  a  striking  speech  of  Grattan  in  the  Rotunda  at  Dublin 
was  mentioned,  "  Nothing  will  do  for  Grattan,"  said  the  prince, 
"but  the  ore  rotundo." 

Sydney  Smith  once  said  that  the  Regent  Orleans  was  the 
wickedest  man  that  ever  lived,  and  he  was  a  prince:  the  English 
regent  retorted,  not  without  reason,  "  I  should  give  the  palm  to 
his  tutor,  the  Abbe  Dubois,  and  he  was  a,  priest." 

"He  has  certainly  attempted  his  life,"  was  George  IV. 's  judg- 
ment of  Moore's  "Life  of  Sheridan,"  which  was  said  to  have 
murdered  its  subject. 

Wally,  what  is  this?  It  is  death,  my  boy:  they  have 
deceived  me. 

His  last  words ;  to  his  page,  Sir  Walthen  Waller,  who  was 
assisting  him  to  a  seat,  when  the  final  qualm  came. 

GLADSTONE. 

[The  Rt.  Hon.  William  Ewart  Gladstone,  statesman,  orator,  and 
author;  born  in  Liverpool,  Dec.  29, 1809;  educated  at  Oxford;  entered 
Parliament  as  a  Conservative,  1832;  vice-president  and  president  of 
the  Board  of  Trade  under  Peel;  colonial  secretary,  1845;  supported 
the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws,  1846;  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  as  a 
Peelite,  1852,  as  a  Liberal,  1859  and  1865;  prime  minister,  1868;  dis- 
established the  Irish  Church,  1869;  resigned,  1874;  prime  minister 
again,  1880;  passed  the  Irish  Land  Act,  1881.] 

Liberalism  is  trust  of  the  people,  tempered  by  pru- 
dence ;  Conservatism,  distrust  of  the  people,  tem- 
pered by  fear. 

He  defined  a  Radical  as  "  a  Liberal  in  earnest." 


250  GLADSTONE. 


I  am  come  among  you  unmuzzled. 

When  his  defeat  for  Oxford  University  was  evident,  during 
a  six-days'  polling,  Mr.  Gladstone  was  nominated  for  South  Lan- 
cashire ;  and  made  his  first  appearance  at  Manchester,  the  result 
at  Oxford  being  in  the  mean  time  declared,  on  the  17th  of  July, 
1865.  "  At  last,  my  friends,"  he  said  to  the  electors,  "  I  have 
come  amongst  you ;  and  I  have  come,  to  use  an  expression  which 
has  become  very  famous,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  forgotten,  —  I 
am  come  among  you  « unmuzzled.' "  This  he  explained,  further 
on,  to  mean  the  liberty  of  joining  in  the  generous  sympathies 
of  his  countrymen,  Oxford  remaining  Conservative. 

Time  is  on  our  side. 

In  closing  the  debate  on  the  Keform  Bill  of  Earl  Russell's 
administration,  in  1866,  Mr.  Gladstone  said,  "You  may  slay,  you 
may  bury,  the  measure  that  we  have  introduced ;  but  we  will 
write  upon  its  gravestone  for  an  epitaph  this  line,  with  certain 
confidence  in  its  fulfilment:  — 

'  Exoriare  aliquis  nostris  ex  ossibus  ultor.' 

You  cannot  fight  against  the  future.  Time  is  on  our  side." 
The  second  reading  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  five ;  but  the 
bill  was  finally  defeated  by  a  majority  of  eleven. 

The  expression,  "Time  is  on  our  side,"  is  first  heard  of  as  a 
motto  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  the  French  premier  during  Louis 
XIV.'s  minority.  "Time  and  I,"  he  used  to  say,  "against  any 
two"  (or  shorter,  Le  temps  et  moi ;  in  Italian,  //  tempo  e  un  ga- 
lant"1  uomo).  Philip  II.  of  Spain  said,  "  Time  and  I  are  the  two 
mightiest  monarchs." 

It  is  the  duty  of  a  minister  to  stand  like  a  wall  of 
adamant  between  the  people  and  the  sovereign. 

Speech  at  Garston,  Nov.  14,  1868. 

The  oppression  of  a  majority  is  detestable  and  odious: 
the  oppression  of  a  minority  is  only  by  one  degree 
less  detestable  and  odious. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  second  reading  of  the  Irish 
Land  Bill,  1870. 


GLADSTONE.  251 


Floundering  and  foundering  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca. 

In  a  speech  to  his  constituents  at  Greenwich,  January,  1874, 
Gladstone  referred  to  the  accusation  of  Mr.  Disraeli,  that  the 
Liberal  government  had  neglected  British  interests  in  the  Straits 
of  Malacca.  His  answer  was,  that  any  such  neglect  must  be 
charged  to  the  previous  Conservative  administration,  of  which 
Mr.  Disraeli  had  been  chief ;  and  he  finished  by  saying,  "  I  will 
leave  the  leader  of  the  opposition,  for  the  present,  floundering 
and  foundering  in  the  Straits  of  Malacca."  Mr.  Gladstone  may 
have  remembered  another  alliterative  phrase,  used  by  Disraeli 
in  a  letter  to  Lord  Grey  de  Wilton,  October,  1873,  where,  after 
accusing  the  Liberal  Government  of  harassing  every  trade, 
worrying  every  profession,  and  assailing  or  menacing  every  class, 
institution,  and  species  of  property  in  the  country,  he  said,  "The 
country  has,  I  think,  made  up  its  mind  to  close  this  career  of 
plundering  and  blundering." 

Bag  and  baggage. 

It  was  in  reference  to  the  occupation  of  Bulgaria  by  Turkey 
that  Mr.  Gladstone  made  his  celebrated  "bag  and  baggage'1 
speech,  saying,  "  I  entreat  my  countrymen  to  insist  that  our 
government  shall  concur  with  the  other  states  of  Europe  in 
obtaining  the  extinction  of  the  Turkish  executive  power  in 
Bulgaria.  Let  the  Turks  now  carry  away  their  abuses  in  the 
only  possible  manner,  —  namely,  by  carrying  off  themselves. 
Their  zaptiehs  and  their  mudirs,  their  bimbashes  and  their  yuz- 
bashis,  their  kaimakans  and  their  pashas,  —  one  and  all,  bag  and 
baggage,  shall,  I  hope,  clear  out  from  the  province  they  have 
desolated  and  profaned." 


The  resources  of  civilization  are  not  yet  exhausted. 

At  a  banquet  given  to  him  at  Leeds,  Oct.  7,  1881,  just  before 
the  arrest  of  the  leaders  of  the  Irish  Land  League,  Mr.  Glad- 
stone gave  an  intimation  of  the  purposes  of  the  government  by 
saying  :  "  If  the  law,  purged  from  defect,  and  from  any  taint  of 
injustice,  is  still  to  be  refused,  and  the  first  condition  of  political 
society  to  remain  unfulfilled,  then  I  say,  gentlemen,  without  hesi- 
tation, that  the  resources  of  civilization  are  not  yet  exhausted." 


252  GOETHE. 


GOETHE. 

[Jobann  "Wolfgang  von  Goethe;  born  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
Aug.  28,  1749;  educated  for  the  law  at  Leipsic  and  Strasburg;  wrote 
"The  Sorrows  of  "Werther,"  1774;  invited  to  the  grand-ducal  court 
of  Saxe-Weimar,  1775,  and  established  himself  for  life  at  "Weimar; 
visited  Italy,  1786;  published  his  greatest  works  between  1788  and 
1806,  when  the  first  part  of  "  Faust"  appeared,  the  whole  not  being 
finished  until  1830;  died  March  22,  1832.] 

I  am  not  to  be  satisfied  with  what  does  for  other 
people  ! 

When  his  mother  asked  him,  at  the  age  of  seven,  why  he 
wished  the  assistance  of  the  stars,  when  other  people  got  along 
without  it. 

Men  are  to  be  regarded  as  organs  of  their  century, 
whose  movements  are  mostly  automatic  (Die  Menschen 
sind  als  Organs  ihres  Jahrhunderts  anzusehen,  die  sich  meist  unbe- 
wusst  beweyen). 

From  an  autograph-album. 

Thus  Marcus  Aurelius  derived  from  the  Stoics  the  remark, 
"  Always  regard  the  world  as  a  living  being,  endowed  with  body 
and  soul." 

It  is  better  to  do  the  idlest  thing  in  the  world  than 
to  sit  idle  for  half  an  hour. 

A  maxim  from  Sterne's  "Koran,"  which  Goethe  put  into  Ger- 
man :  "  Es  ist  lesser  das  gcringste  Ding  von  der  Welt  zu  thun,  als 
cine  liallte  Stunde  fur  gering  halten."  Goethe  once  remarked  to 
Eckermann,  "  Be  always  resolute  with  the  present  hour.  Every 
moment  is  of  infinite  value,  for  it  is  the  representative  of 
eternity."  Leibnitz  declared  that  "the  loss  of  an  hour  is  the 
loss  of  a  part  of  life"  (pars  vitce  quoties  perditur  hora  peril). 
Napoleon  made  the  remark  to  some  boys  at  school,  "  My  lads, 
every  hour  of  lost  time  is  a  chance  of  future  misfortunes." 
Frederick  the  Great  had  a  maxim  which  he  took  from  Seneca : 
"  Time  is  the  only  treasure  of  which  it  is  proper  to  be  avaricious  " 
(Le  temps  est  le  seul  tre'sor  dont  V avarice  soit  louable  •  in  Latin, 
Temporis  unius  Jtonesta  avaritia  est). 


GOETHE.  253 


All  our  knowledge  is  symbolic. 

This  and  the  following  are  from  Goethe's  "  Table-Talk,"  Rie- 
mer  (Mittheilungen  iiber  Goethe),  II.  ix.  1805. 

In  the  world  the  important  thing  is  not  to  know  men, 
but  to  be  wiser  at  each  moment  than  any  particular 
man. 

Ibid.,  1808. 

What  have  the  Germans  gained  by  their  boasted  free- 
dom of  the  press,  except  the  liberty  of  abusing  each 
other  as  they  like  ? 

Thus  Heine  defined  free  thought  as  commonly  understood  to 
be  the  free  expression  of  contempt  for  the  thought  of  others.  — 
Ibid.,  1809,  note. 

Sin  writes  histories,  goodness  is  silent  (Das  Uebel  macht 
eine  Geschichte,  und  das  Gate  keine). 

Saying  that  the  man  who  writes  confessions  is  apt  to  confess 
his  sins  and  conceal  his  virtues.  — Ibid.,  1810. 

Superstition  is  favorable  to  poets. 

Ibid.,  1829. 

When  a  man  eats  the  fruits  of  more  favored  climes, 
he  is  for  the  moment  transported  thither,  and  im- 
agination heightens  enjoyment. 

Ibid,  1830. 

The  ancient  languages  are  the  scabbard  which  holds 
the  mind's  sword  (Die  alien  Sprachen  sind  Scheiden  darin  das 
Messer  des  Geistes  stickt). 

Originally  from  Luther  ;  dictated  by  Goethe  to  Riemer,  in 
1814.  It  was  upon  this  thought  that  he  founded  the  hope  that 
"the  study  of  Latin  and  Greek  literature  would  ever  be  the 
basis  of  culture  ;  "  it  was  also  the  foundation  of  the  famous  say- 
ing ("Kunst  und  Alterthum,"  1821),  "lie  who  is  ignorant  of 
foreign  languages  knows  not  his  own'"  ( Wer  fremde  Sprachen 
nicht  kennt,  weiss  nichts  von  seiner  eiyenen)  ;  sometimes  shortened 
to,  "He  who  knows  but  one  language  knows  none." 


254  GOETHE. 


Tell  me  your  associates,  I  will  tell  you  what  you  are  ; 
tell  me  what  you  busy  yourself  about,  I  will  tell  you 
what  may  be  expected  of  you. 

Originally  from  Socrates;  applied  by  Goethe  to  intellectual 
occupation.  In  English,  "A  man  is  known  by  the  company  he 
keeps."  In  French,  "  Dis-moi  qui  tu  hantes,  et  je  te  dirai  qui  tu 
es."  The  German  proverb  is  similar, — 

"  Willst  du  erkennen  den  Mann, 
So  schau  seine  Gesellschaft  an." 

Timon  was  asked  what  children  should  be  taught. 
"What  they  will  never  understand,"  was  the  mis- 
anthrope's reply. 

Thus  Goethe  again  in  the  "Xenien,"  "  Teach  your  children  of 
heaven  and  earth,  what  they  will  never  understand."  A  Pythago- 
rean answered  the  same  question,  "  To  be  the  citizen  of  a  well- 
ggverned  state."  —  DIOGENES  LAERTIUS,  VIII.  16. 

He  who  does  not  love  must  learn  to  natter,  else  he  is 
nothing. 

When  sympathy  is  lost,  memory  is  lost  (Wo  der  Anihe.il 
sich  verliert,  verliert  sich  auch  das  Gedachtniss). 

Thus  Napoleon  said  of  some  one,  "  His  memory  was  of  the 
heart"  (So  mcmoire  tenait  du  cceur).  Massieu,  a  deaf-mute,  when 
asked  to  write  a  definition  of  gratitude,  called  it  "  the  memory 
of  the  heart"  (la  reconnaissance  est  la  mcmoire  du  cceur).  It  was 
Cicero's  animus  memor  in  French.  Vaugelas,  a  French  gram- 
marian, was  one  of  the  first  members  of  the  Academy,  and  took 
a  prominent  part  in  the  compilation  of  the  Dictionary.  Cardinal 
Richelieu  at  one  time  raised  his  salary,  and  said  to  him,  "  You 
will  not  forget  in  the  new  Dictionary  the  word  'pension.'"  — 
"No,  monseigneur,"  replied  the  scholar,  "but  I  shall  still  less 
forget  the  word  'gratitude'  '  (reconnoissance) . 

Mastery  is  often  considered  egoism  (Die  Meisterschaft  gilt 
of t  fur  Eyoismus). 

Mentioned  by  Goethe  to  Riemer,  IT.  622,  as  the  motto  of  a 
romance  he  was  projecting,  to  be  called  "The  Egoist." 


GOETHE.  255 


Poetic  talent  is  given  as  -well  to  the  peasant  as  to  the 
knight  (dem  Bauer  so  gut  yeyeben  wie  dnn  Hitter). 

A  thought  he  derived  from  Herder,  who  called  poetic  concep- 
tion the  common  property  of  mankind  (das  Gemeingut  der  Mensch- 
heit).  Each  must  conceive  it,  however,  adds  Goethe,  according 
to  his  situation.  "It  belongs,"  he  said  of  an  edition  of  folk- 
songs published  in  1825,  "  neither  to  the  people  nor  to  the  noble, 
neither  to  the  king  nor  to  the  peasant.  It  is  the  offspring  of  a 
true  man."  He  accordingly  adopted  this  motto  :  "There  is  but 
one  poetry,  —  true  poetry." 

Stupidity  is  without  anxiety. 

(Or,  as  elsewhere  given,  "Fools  are  never  uneasy.")  To 
Eckermann,  1824. 

The  following  are  from  Goethe's  "  Conversations  with  Ecker- 


mann: "  — 


Roman  history  is  not  for  our  age.  We  are  become  too 
humane  to  enjoy  the  triumphs  of  Caesar. 

We  learn  only  from  those  whom  we  love. 

It  is  better  for  us  moderns  to  say  with  Napoleon,  "Politics  are 
destiny." 

People  always  fancy  that  we  must  become  old  to  become  wise ; 
but  in  truth,  as  years  advance,  it  is  hard  to  keep  ourselves  as 
wise  as  we  were. 

Error  belongs  to  libraries,  truth  to  the  human  mind. 

Courtiers  would  die  of  ennui,  if  they  could  not  fill  up  their 
time  with  ceremonies. 

A  name  is  no  despicable  matter.  Napoleon,  for  the  sake  of  a 
great  name,,  broke  in  pieces  almost  half  a  world.  [To  Ecker- 
mann, who  wondered  that  men  could  toil  so  for  a  little  fame.] 

Architecture  is  petrified  music. 

"I  have  found  a  paper  of  mine  among  some  others,"  said 
Goethe  to  Eckermann,  March  23,  1829,  "in  which  I  call  archi- 
tecture 'petrified  music'  (eine  erstarrte  Musik).  Really  there  is 
something  in  this :  the  tone  of  mind  produced  by  architecture 
approaches  the  effect  of  music."  The  philosopher  Schelling 
(1775-1854)  speaks  in  two  places  in  the  "Philosophic  der  Kunst " 


256  GOETHE. 


of  architecture  as  "frozen  music,"  a  more  commonly  used  com- 
parison. Mme.  de  Stael  looked  upon  a  great  architectural 
monument  as  "  a  continual  and  unchanging  music  "  (une  musique 
continuelle  et  fixde).  — Corinne,  IV.  iii. 

Every  thing  that  is  great  promotes  cultivation  as 
soon  as  we  are  aware  of  it. 

Saying  that  the  audacity  and  grandeur  of  Byron  must  certainly 
tend  towards  cultivation. 

May  Germany  be  one  in  love!  And  may  it  always  be 
one  against  the  foreign  foe ! 

Saying,  in  1828,  that  good  highroads  and  future  railroads 
would  do  their  part  towards  the  unification  of  Germany. 

We  cannot  all  serve  our  country  in  the  same  way; 
but  each  does  his  best,  according  as  God  has  en- 
dowed him. 

In  1830,  as  a  reason  for  not  taking  up  arms  in  the  War  of 
Liberation,  against  France  :  "  How  could  I  take  up  arms  without 
hatred,  and  how  could  I  hate  without  youth  ?  "  But  he  was 
accused  at  the  time  of  too  great  admiration  of  Napoleon.  "Clank 
your  chains  !  "  he  said  to  his  countrymen,  who  were  endeavoring 
to  shatter  them,  "  the  man  is  too  great  for  you.  You  will  not 
break  them,  but  only  drive  them  deeper  into  your  flesh."  "  Xa- 
tional  hatred,"  said  Goethe  to  Eckermann,  "  is  something  pecu- 
liar :  you  will  always  find  it  strongest  and  most  violent  in  the 
lowest  degree  of  culture  "  (auf  den  untersten  Stufen  der  Kultur}. 

Death  is,  to  a  certain  extent,  an  impossibility  which 
suddenly  becomes  a  reality  (ewe  Unmoglichkeit  die  pldtz- 
lich  zur  Wirklichkeit  wird). 

No  productiveness  of  the  highest  kind,  no  remarkable 
discovery,  no  great  thought  which  bears  fruit  and 
has  results,  is  in  the  power  of  any  one ;  but  such 
things  are  elevated  above  all  earthly  control. 

They  [the  Germans!  come  and  ask  what  idea  I  meant 
to  embody  in  Faust.  As  if  I  knew,  myself,  and 
could  inform  them! 


GOETHE.  257 


Women  are  silver  dishes,  into  which  we  put  golden 
apples. 

Saying  that  his  idea  of  women  was  not  abstracted  from  the 
phenomena  of  actual  life.  He  used  the  same  figure  of  Shake- 
speare :  "  He  gives  us  golden  apples  in  silver  dishes.  We  get 
the  silver  dishes  by  studying  his  works :  unfortunately  we  have 
only  potatoes  to  put  into  them." 

Only  in  Rome  have  I  felt  what  it  really  is  to  be  a 
man.  As  soon  as  we  enter  Rome,  a  transformation 
takes  place  in  us;  and  we  feel  ourselves  great,  like 
the  objects  which  surround  us. 

To  that  elevation  he  said  he  had  never  since  arisen. 

Every  extraordinary  man  has  a  certain  mission  (eine 
gewisse  Senduny)  which  he  is  called  upon  to  accomplish. 

The  parliamentary  parties  of  England  are  great  opposing 
forces,  which  paralyze  one  another,  and  where  the  superior  in- 
sight of  individuals  can  hardly  break  through. 

All  endeavors  to  introduce  any  foreign  innovation,  the  neces- 
sity for  which  is  not  rooted  in  the  core  of  the  nation  itself,  are 
therefore  foolish. 

There  is  nothing  good  for  a  people  but  that  which  the  people 
themselves  generate. 

He  who  wishes  to  exert  a  useful  influence  must  be  careful  to 
insult  nothing. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  expect  to  find  men  in  agreement  with 
us. 

The  soul  is  like  the  sun,  which  disappears  from  our  mortal 
eye,  but  which  in  reality  never  disappears,  but  ceaselessly  gives 
light  in  his  progress. 

We  must  be  young  to  do  great  things. 

Light  is  above  us,  and  color  around  us ;  but  if  we  have  not 
light  arid  color  in  our  eyes,  we  shall  not  perceive  them  outside 
us. 

The  beautiful  is  a  phenomenon  which  is  never  apparent  of 
itself,  but  is  reflected  in  a  thousand  different  works  of  the 
Creator. 


258  GOETHE. 


Shakespeare  is  a  great  psychologist,  and  whatever  can  be 
known  of  the  heart  of  man  may  be  found  in  his  plays. 

All  poetry  should  be  the  poetry  of  circumstance;  that  is,  it 
should  be  inspired  by  the  Real. 

Intellect  may  enslave  us,  if  we  are  predisposed  to  like  it ;  but 
intellect  cannot  warm  us,  or  inspire  us  with  passion. 

It  is  not  given  to  the  world  to  be  moderate. 

That  which  is  wholesome  nourishment  for  the  people  of  one 
age  may  be  poison  for  the  people  of  another. 

Amateurs  and  women,  for  the  most  part,  have  but  the  feeblest 
ideas  of  poetry. 

My  works  are  not  written  for  the  mass,  but  for  men  who, 
desiring  and  seeking  that  which  I  desired  and  sought,  walk  in 
the  same  road  that  I  have  pursued. 

I  will  listen  to  any  one's  convictions ;  but,  pray,  keep  your 
doubts  to  yourself. 

Great  passions  are  incurable  diseases  :  the  very  remedies  make 
them  worse. 

Our  adversaries  think  they  refute  us  when  they  reiterate  their 
own  opinions,  without  paying  attention  to  ours. 

The  world  cannot  do  without  great  men,  but  great  men  are 
very  troublesome  to  the  world. 

All  sects  seem  to  me  to  be  right  in  what  they  assert,  and 
wrong  in  what  they  deny. 

Man  alone  is  interesting  to  man. 

Following  Pope's  dictum,  "  Essay  on  Man,"  II.  1. 

More  light  (Mehr  Licht). 
His  last  words. 

"  The  prayer  of  Ajax  was  for  light." 

LONGFELLOW  :  The  Goblet  of  Life. 

As  Napoleon  closed  his  interview  with  Goethe  at  Erfurt, 
Oct.  2,  1808,  he  said,  in  presence  of  the  poet,  with  whom  he  had 
conversed  on  literature,  "  You  are  a  man  !  "  (  Vous  etes  un  homme!) 
and  to  Berthier  and  Daru,  after  Goethe  had  retired,  "  That  is  a 
man  !  "  (  Voila  un  homme  /)  And  Goethe  said  to  Eckermann  in 
1828,  "  Xapoleon  was  the  man !  His  life  was  the  stride  of  a 
demi-god.  That  was  a  fellow  (Kerl)  whom  we  cannot  imitate." 


OLIVEK  GOLDSMITH.  259 

*      •  "••  —        ~~          — 

OLIVER    GOLDSMITH. 

[Poet  and  miscellaneous  writer;  born  at  Pallas,  Ireland,  1728; 
educated  at  Trinity  College;  studied  medicine,  and  made  a  tour  of 
Europe;  wrote  "The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,"  17(52;  "The  Traveller," 
1764;  "  The  Deserted  Village,"  1770;  "  She  Stoops  to  Conquer,"  1773; 
died  1774.] 

I  always  get  the  better  when  I  argue  alone. 

He  was  like  the  French  Nicole,  who  was  slow  at  repartee,  and 
fatigued  those  who  waited  for  the  reasons  by  which  he  sustained 
his  positions.  He  accordingly  said  of  M.  de  Treville,  who  spoke 
more  fluently,  "  He  vanquishes  me  in  the  drawing-room,  but 
surrenders  to  me  at  discretion  on  the  stairs  "  (//  me  bat  dans  la 
chambre,  mais  il  n'est  pas  plufot  au  bas  de  VescaUer  que  je  Vai  con- 
fondu).  This  is  but  another  way  of  putting  Disraeli's  remark, 
that  "many  a  great  wit  has  thought  the  wit  it  was  too  late  to 
speak."  Rivarol  paraphrases  the  French  proverb,  Tout  le  nwnde 
est  sage  apres  coup,  "  One  could  make  a  great  book  of  what  has 
not  been  said  ; "  and  Chief-Justice  Jervis,  in  an  opinion  quoted 
by  Baron  Bramwell,  5  Jur.  N.  S.  658,  gave  it  a  more  literal  ren- 
dering :  "  Nothing  is  so  easy  as  to  be  wise  after  the  event." 

That  Goldsmith  wrote  better  than  he  talked,  gave  point  to 
Garrick's  impromptu  epitaph  :  — 

• 

"  Here  lies  Nolly  Goldsmith,  for  shortness  called  Noll, 
Who  wrote  like  an  angel,  and  talked  like  poor  Poll." 

Johnson  said  of  him,  "  Goldsmith  was  a  plant  that  flowered 
late ; "  and  again,  in  1778,  "  Goldsmith  was  a  man,  who,  what- 
ever he  wrote,  did  it  better  than  any  other  man  could  do."  In 
1780  he  declared  of  him :  "  No  man  was  more  foolish  when  he 
had  not  a  pen  in  his  hand,  or  more  wise  when  he  had."  Johnson 
wrote  in  the  Latin  epitaph  of  the  poet,  that,  "  leaving  hardly  any 
style  of  composition  untouched,  he  touched  nothing  that  he  did 
not  adorn  :  "  — 

"  Qui  nullum  fere  scribendi  genus 

Non  tetigit, 
Nullum  quod  tetigit  non  ornavit." 

This  may  be  compared  to  the  remark  of  Fenelon  in  a  eulogy 
of  Cicero :  "  He  touches  nothing  but  he  adds  a  charm." 


260  OLIVER  GOLDSMITH. 

Forsitan  et  nostrum  nomen  miscebitur  istis. 

Goldsmith  was  not  always  caught  napping.  Thus  Johnson 
was  walking  with  him  one  day  in  the  Poets'  Corner  of  West- 
minster Abbey,  and  quoted  Ovid's  line  :  — 

"  Forsitan  et  nostrum  nomen  miscebitur  istis." 

De  Arte  Amandi,  III.,  339. 

"  Perhaps  our  name  may  be  mingled  with  these." 

On  their  way  home  they  passed  under  Temple  Bar;  and  Gold- 
smith, pointing  to  the  heads  of  Fletcher  and  Townley,  who  had 
been  executed  for  participation  in  the  rebellion  of  1745,  slyly 
whispered,  in  reference  to  Johnson's  Jacobite  tendencies,  — 

"  Forsitan  et  nostrum  nomen  miscebitur  istis." 

Bos  WELL  :  Life  of  Johnson,  1773. 

I  do  not  love  a  man  who  is  zealous  for  nothing. 

Boswell  states  that  Goldsmith  struck  this  out  of  "  The  Vicar 
of  Waken" eld."  Johnson  added  that  he  struck  out  another  fine 
passage :  "  When  I  was  a  young  man,  being  anxious  to  distin- 
guish myself,  I  was  perpetually  starting  new  propositions.  But 
I  soon  gave  this  over,  for  I  generally  found  that  what  was  new 
was  false."  Leasing  began  a  critique  in  much  the  same  way: 
"This  book  contains  much  that  is  good  and  new:  pity  that  the 
good  is  not  new,  and  the  new  is  not  good."  Daniel  Webster  said 
in  the  Senate,  March,  1848,  of  a  political  platform,  "What  is 
valuable  is  not  new,  and  what  is  new  is  not  valuable." 

I  should  rather  that  my  play  were  damned  by  bad 
players,  than  merely  saved  by  good  acting. 

Victor  Hugo  said,  "  I  had  rather  be  hissed  for  a  good  verse 
than  applauded  for  a  bad  one." 

Boswell  once  endeavored  to  engage  Goldsmith  in  a  conversa- 
tion on  religion;  to  which  the  latter  replied,  "Sir,  as  I  take  my 
shoes  from  the  shoemaker,  and  my  coat  from  the  tailor,  so  I  take 
my  religion  from  the  priest."  When  Boswell  regretted  to  John- 
son that  loose  way  of  talking,  the  latter  replied,  "  Sir,  he  knows 
nothing;  he  has  made  up  his  mind  about  nothing."  —  BOSWELL: 
Life  of  Johnson,  1773. 


GORTSCHAKOFF.  261 


G  OR  TSCHAKOFF. 

[Prince  Alexander  Gortschakoff,  a  Russian  statesman;  born  1798; 
secretary  of  legation  to  London,  1824;  councillor  of  the  embassy,  and 
minister  to  Vienna,  1832;  minister  of  foreign  affairs  and  chancellor 
of  the  empire,  1857;  took  part  in  the  Black  Sea  Conference  in  Lon- 
don, 1871,  and  in  the  Berlin  Congress,  1878;  resigned  the  direction 
of  foreign  affairs,  1882.] 

Russia  is  not   sulking,    she  is   collecting  herself   (La 

Eussie  ne  boude  pas,  die  se  recueille). 

This  celebrated  expression  occurred  in  a  circular  to  the  Rus- 
sian legations  in  Europe  in  1856,  in  which  the  chancellor  op- 
posed the  interference  of  the  Western  Powers  in  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  but  disclaimed  any  such  opposition  to 
intervention,  on  Russia's  part,  as  the  result  of  mortification  at 
her  defeat  by  England  and  France.  It  marked,  even  in  this 
negative  way,  the  re-appearance  of  Russia  in  European  politics 
after  the  Crimean  war,  from  the  effects  of  which  she  was  "  col- 
lecting/herself." 

Gortschakoff 's  acquaintance  with  Austria  and  her  heterogene- 
ous people  caused  him  to  say,  what  was  perhaps  more  accurate 
thirty  years  ago  than  now :  "  Austria  is  not  a  state,  she  is  only  a 
government."  This  resembles  Mettermch's  celebrated  mot,  when 
the  peninsula  was  a  congeries  of  often  antagonistic  principalities, 
"  Italy  is  only  a  geographical  expression." 

ULYSSES  S.   GRANT. 

[Born  in  Ohio,  April  27,  1822;  graduated  from  West  Point,  1843; 
served  in  the  Mexican  War;  entered  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  as 
colonel  of  volunteers;  took  Forts  Henry  and  Donelson,  1862;  cap- 
tured Vicksburg,  July  4,  1863;  made  major-general  and  lieutenant- 
general  in  the  regular  army,  and  commander  of  all  the  forces  of  the 
United  States,  March,  1864;  captured  Petersburg,  April  2,  1865,  and 
received  Lee's  surrender,  April  9;  secretary  of  war  ad  interim,  1867; 
President  of  the  United  States,  1869-77;  after  his  retirement  made  a 
tour  of  the  world.] 

I  propose  to  move  immediately  upon  your  works. 

Having  been  appointed  to  the  command  of  South-east  Missouri, 
and  all  that  part  of  Kentucky  west  of  the  Cumberland  River, 


262  ULYSSES  S.   GRANT. 

Gen.  Grant  ascended  the  Tennessee  River  with  the  aid  of  gun- 
boats, and  took  Fort  Henry,  Feb.  6,  1862 ;  he  then  attacked  Fort 
Donelson,  by  which  the  navigation  of  the  Cumberland  was 
obstructed.  On  the  16th  Gen.  Buckner  made  overtures,  in 
reply  to  which  Grant  wrote:  "Xo  terms  other  than  unconditional 
and  immediate  surrender  can  be  accepted.  I  propose  to  move 
immediately  upon  your  works."  The  fort  was  accordingly  sur- 
rendered to  him  with  more  than  fifteen  thousand  prisoners. 

The  next  of  the  pithy  sayings  of  the  general  was  uttered  on 
the  llth  of  May,  1864.  While  fighting  and  manoeuvring  before 
Richmond,  he  concluded  a  despatch  to  the  Secretary  of  War  with 
a  sentence  which  was  at  once  taken  up,  and  made  the  motto  of 
the  campaign :  "  I  propose  to  fight  it  out  on  this  line  if  it  takes 
all  summer." 

Let  us  have  peace! 

Neither  accepting  the  policy  of  President  Johnson,  nor  desir- 
ing unharmonious  action  between  the  re-united  sections  of  the 
country,  Grant  closed  his  letter  accepting  the  nomination  to 
the  presidency,  May  29, 1868,  with  an  exclamation  which  became 
at  once  a  watchword,  "  Let  us  have  peace  !  " 

In  his  first  inaugural  address,  March  4,  1869,  referring  to  the 
attempt  of  his  predecessor  to  carry  out  a  policy  in  opposition  to 
the  views  of  the  dominant  party,  President  Grant  announced  as 
his  view  of  the  relations  which  should  exist  between  the  execu- 
tive and  legislative  branches  of  the  government:  "I  shall  on  all 
subjects  have  a  policy  to  recommend,  but  none  to  enforce  against 
the  will  of  the  people." 

Let  no  guilty  man  escape. 

To  correct  an  impression  that  the  President  and  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  were  not  in  full  accord  in  the  efforts  made  by  the 
latter  to  bring  to  justice  all  who  were  engaged  in  the  violation 
of  the  internal-revenue  laws  in  relation  to  the  tax  on  distilled 
spirits  (in  other  words,  the  Western  "  Whiskey  Ring  "),  Presi- 
dent Grant  made  the  following  autographic  indorsement  of  a 
letter  relating  to  the  prosecution,  July  29,  1875:  "Let  no  guilty 
man  escape,  if  it  can  be  avoided.  Xo  personal  consideration 
should  stand  in  the  way  of  performing  a  public  duty." 


HENRY  GRATTAN.  263 

HENRY  GRATTAN. 

[An  Irish  statesman  and  orator;  born  in  Dublin,  1750;  elected  to 
the  Irish  Parliament,  1775,  from  which  he  received  in  1780  the  sum 
of  £50,000  "for  his  great  national  services;"  after  opposing  the 
Union,  entered  the  Imperial  Parliament,  1805;  died  May,  18'JO:  of 
him  Sir  Jarnes  Mackintosh  said,  "  The  purity  of  his  life  was  the 
brightness  of  his  glory."] 

I  sat  by  its  cradle,  I  followed  its  hearse. 

Of  the  rise  of  Irish  independence  in  1782,  and  its  fall  twenty 
years  afterwards. 

After  an  independent  judiciary  had  been  granted,  he  exclaimed 
in  the  Irish  Parliament,  "  At  length  I  address  a  new  nation !  " 

He  said  of  Dr.  Lucas,  who  made  a  total  failure  in  a  speech  in 
the  Irish  Parliament,  "  He  rose  without  a  friend,  and  sat  down 
without  an  enemy." 

He  remarked,  of  the  probable  character  of  the  Irish  repre- 
sentatives in  the  British  Parliament  after  the  Union,  "You  have 
swept  away  our  constitution,  you  have  destroyed  our  parliament, 
but  we  will  have  our  revenge.  We  will  send  into  the  ranks  of 
your  parliament  a  hundred  of  the  greatest  scoundrels  of  the 
kingdom." 

When  asked  where  he  had  heard  something  which  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  profound  secret,  he  replied,  "  Where  such  secrets 
are  kept,  —  in  the  street." 

His  last  words  were,  "I  am  perfectly  resigned.  I  am  sur- 
rounded by  my  family.  I  have  served  my  country.  I  have 
reliance  upon  God,  and  I  am  not  afraid  of  the  Devil."  He  had 
previously  given  his  son  some  advice  which  shows  the  influence 
of  the  times,  "Be  always  ready  with  the  pistol." 

GREGORY  I. 

[Pope  of  Rome,  commonly  called  "  the  Great;  "  born  about  550; 
became  prefect  of  Rome,  573;  elected  pope,  590,  having  previously 
induced  his  predecessor  to  send  missionaries  to  England;  was  the 
author  of  several  works;  died  604. J 

Non  AngH,  sed  Angeli! 

One  day  about  the  year  574,  before  he  had  reached  the  papal 
chair,  passing  through  the  market  in  Home,  Gregory  was  struck 


264  ANDRE  GRETRY. 


by  the  beauty  of  a  group  of  youth  exposed  for  sale.  When  told 
that  they  were  Angles  (Angli)  from  the  heathen  island  of  Britain, 
"  Verily  angels  "  (angeli),  he  exclaimed  :  "  how  lamentable  that 
the  Prince  of  darkness  should  be  the  master  of  a  country  con- 
taining such  a  beautiful  people !  But  of  what  province  are 
they?"  He  was  told  that  they  were  Deirians,  from  Deira,  the 
land  of  wild  deer,  between  the  Tyne  and  the  Humber.  "  De 
ird!'  said  Gregory,  "then  they  must  be  delivered  from  the 
wrath  (de  ira)  of  God.  And  what  is  the  name  of  their  king?  " 
-"JElla."  —  "Then  Alleluia  shall  be  sung  in  their  land."  — 
FREEMAN  :  Old  English  History,  44. 

Gregory  then  persuaded  the  Pope  to  send  missionaries  to 
England,  of  whom  he  should  be  one.  As  they  rested  on  their 
journey,  three  days  from  Rome,  a  locust  jumped  on  to  the  book 
he  was  reading.  "  Rightly  is  it  called  locust,"  he  said,  "  because 
it  seems  to  say  to  us,  loco  sla  (locusta),  —  stay  in  your  place  ;  " 
and  as  he  spoke,  couriers  arrived,  cornniandiDg  him  to  return  to 
Rome. 


ANDRE  GRETRY. 

[A  celebrated  composer;  born  at  Liege,  1741;  after  studying  at 
Rome,  settled  in  Paris,  where  his  operas,  especially  "  Richard  Cceur 
de  Lion  "  acquired  great  vogue;  died  1813.] 

To u jours  Gretry. 

Mine,  de  Remusat,  after  mentioning  Xapoleon's  inaoility  to 
remember  names,  and  the  rude  manner  in  which  he  asked  them 
of  persons  he  constantly  met,  relates  an  anecdote  of  Gretry,  who 
was  in  the  habit,  as  member  of  the  Institute,  of  attending  the 
emperor's  Sunday  receptions,  where  Napoleon,  perfectly  familiar 
with  his  face,  put  week  after  week  his  invariable  question, 
"  Well,  what  is  your  name?  "  until  the  composer,  tired  of  giving 
the  same  answer,  and  perhaps  piqued  at  the  slight  impression  he 
had  made,  replied  at  last,  impatiently,  "  Sire,  always  Gretry." 
The  emperor  had  no  difficulty  in  recollecting  him  thereafter.  — 
Memoirs,  II.  10. 

When  Sedaine  said  of  the  failure  of  one  of  Gretry 's  operas,  of 
which  he  had  written  the  libretto,  "  The  pear  was  not  ripe," 
Gretry  replied,  "  That  did  not  prevent  its  falling"  (CdaneTa 


GUATEMOZIX.  265 


empechee  de  tomber)  (also  to  fail,  of  dramatic  pieces)  ;  and  Rous- 
seau made  a  similar  pun,  but  in  an  opposite  sense,  when  Gluck 
complained  that  his  opera  of  "  Alceste "  had  failed  (tombe'e)  : 
"Yes,  but  from  heaven  "  (Oui,  mais  eile  est  tombe'e  du  del). 

G  UA  TEMOZIN. 

[Son-in-law  and  successor  of  Montezuma  II.,  emperor  of  Mexico; 
was  the  last  prince  of  the  Aztec  line;  forced  to  capitulate,  after  a 
brave  defence  of  his  capital  against  the  Spaniards,  was  taken  pris- 
oner and  tortured  by  order  of  Cortez,  to  compel  him  to  reveal  where 
his  treasures  were  secreted;  afterwards  accused  of  inciting  his  sub- 
jects to  rebellion,  was  put  to  death  1522.] 

Am  I,  then,  lying  on  a  bed  of  roses  ? 

When  his  companion,  the  cacique  of  Tacuba,  who  was  put  to 
torture  with  him,  testified  his  anguish  by  his  groans,  Guatemozin 
coldly  rebuked  him  by  exclaiming,  "  And  do  you  think  I,  then, 
am  taking  pleasure  in  my  bath?"  QEstoiyoen  algun  deleite,  6 
bano?) — PRESCOTT  :  Conquest  of  Mexico,  Bk.  VII.  chap.  i. ;  he 
adds  in  a  note,  "  The  literal  version  is  not  so  poetical  as  i  the 
bed  of  flowers,'  into  which  this  exclamation  of  Guatemozin  is 
usually  rendered." 

Jugurtha,  when  thrown  into  the  subterranean  dungeon  of  the 
Mamertine  Prison  at  Rome  (104  B.C.),  which  was  half  full  of 
water,  exclaimed,  "  Hercules !  How  cold  is  this  bath  of  yours !  " 
—  SALLUST  :  Jugurtha,  chap,  cxxii.,  note. 

FRANCOIS  GUIZOT. 

[French  statesman  and  historian;  born  at  Nimes,  Oct.  4,  1787; 
educated  at  Geneva;  settled  in  Paris,  1825,  and  became  the  leader  of 
the  so-called  Doctrinaires ;  councillor  of  state,  1817;  lecturer  on  his- 
tory at  the  Sorbonne;  deputy,  1830;  minister  of  the  interior,  of  public 
instruction,  and  of  foreign  affairs,  under  Louis  Philippe,  until  the 
revolution  of  1848  drove  him  into  retirement ;  died  1874.] 

Your  anger  will  not  reach  the  level  of  my  contempt ! 

In  a  speech  defending  his  foreign  policy  in  1842,  Guizot  was 
answering  the  charge  that  he  had  subordinated  the  interests  of 
France  to  the  influence  of  England,  when  a  scene  occurred  in 
the  Chamber,  and  he  was  apostrophized  in  vehement  language 


266  GUSTAYUS  ADOLPHUS. 

by  the  members  of  the  opposition.  Looking  down  upon  them 
from  the  tribune  with  his  habitual  coldness  of  manner,  he  re- 
marked, when  the  storm  had  spent  itself,  "  Vos  coleres  n ' atteindront 
j)as  a  la  hauteur  de  mon  dedain  !  " 

France  marches  at  the  head  of  civilization  (La  France 
marche  a  la  tete  de  la  civilisation). 

An  expression  which  has  been  developed  from  one  of  the 
opening  sentences  of  Guizot's  lectures  on  the  Civilization  of 
Europe :  "  I  cannot  but  regard  France  as  the  centre,  as  the  focus, 
of  the  civilization  of  Europe.  It  would  be  going  too  far  to  say 
that  she  has  always  been,  upon  every  occasion,  in  advance  of 
other  nations ;  .  .  .  but  it  must  still  be  allowed,  that,  whenever 
France  has  set  forward  in  the  career  of  civilization,  she  has  sprung 
forth  with  new  vigor,  and  has  soon  come  up  with,  or  passed  by, 
all  her  rivals." 

GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS. 

[King  of  Sweden;  born  at  Stockholm,  Dec.  9, 1594;  ascended  the 
throne,  1610;  gained  Livonia  and  Riga  after  repelling  an  invasion  by 
Poland  and  Russia;  undertook  the  command  of  the  Protestants  in 
the  Thirty  Years'  "War,  1630;  defeated  Tilly  at  Leipsic  and  on  the  Lech, 
where  Tilly  was  killed;  met  Wallenstein  at  Liitzen,  Nov.  16,  1632, 
and  was  mortally  wounded  early  in  the  day,  the  Imperialists  being, 
however,  compelled  to  retreat.] 

Praying  hard  is  fighting  hard. 

To  his  soldiers.  To  his  officers  he  said,  "  You  may  win  salva- 
tion under  my  command,  but  hardly  riches." 

Defending  his  attention  to  trifles,  and  his  intercourse  with  his 
men,  who  without  him,  like  boys  in  the  schoolmaster's  absence, 
would  slacken  their  blows,  he  said,  "  Cities  are  not  taken  by  sit- 
ting in  tents." 

Being  found  one  day  by  his  chaplain  reading  his  Bible,  he 
said:  "The  Devil  is  very  near  at  hand  to  those  who  (like  mon- 
archs)  are  accountable  to  none  but  God  for  their  actions." 

His  last  words,  to  the  Duke  of  Lauenburg,  as  a  second  ball 
struck  him  on  the  field  of  Liitzen,  were,  "  I  have  enough :  save 
thyself,  brother"  (Ich  hale  yenug :  retle  dichtBruder).  It  may 


HADRIAN.  267 


be  doubted  whether,  in  the  confusion  and  agony  of  the  supreme 
moment,  he  said,  as  asserted,  "  I  seal  with  my  blood  my  religion 
and  the  liberties  of  Germany." 

Never  was  prophecy  less  fulfilled  than  that  of  the  Emperor 

Ferdinand  II.,  who,  when  he  heard  that  the  Protestant  monarch 

was  advancing  from  the  extreme  north  to  oppose  the  Imperialists, 

declared,    "  This   snow-king  will   go   on  melting  as    he  comes 

"south." 

HADRIAN. 

[Hadrianus  Publius  JSlius,  Roman  emperor;  born  in  Rome,  A.D. 
76;  won  the  favor  of  Trajan,  whom  he  accompanied  in  his  campaign 
against  the  Dacians,  and  on  whose  death  he  was  proclaimed  emperor, 
117;  spent  most  of  his  reign  in  journeys  through  the  empire,  building 
walls,  as  in  Britain,  and  founding  cities;  died  July,  138.] 

Scrape  on,   gentlemen;    but  you  will  not  scrape  ac- 
quaintance with  me. 

To  some  soldiers  in  a  bath,  who  were  scraping  themselves  with 
a  potsherd,  in  imitation  of  a  man  to  whom  the  emperor  had, 
the  day  before,  given  some  money  to  buy  a  brush. 

NATHAN  HALE. 

[An  American  patriot;  born  in  Connecticut,  1755;  graduated  from 
Yale  College;  entered  the  army,  1775;  sent  by  Washington  to  pene- 
trate the  enemy's  lines  in  Long  Island,  and  procure  intelligence, 
September,  1776;  was  seized  and  executed  as  a  spy.] 

I  only  regret  that  I  have  but  one  life  to  lose  for  my 
country. 

His  last  words. 

"What  pity  is  it 
That  we  can  die  but  once  to  save  our  country!  " 

ADDISON:  Cato,  IV.  4. 

Napoleon  said,  "  Can  a  few  days  of  life  eqwal  the  happiness  of 
dying  for  one's  country  ?  " 

The  last  words  of  Major  John  Andre  of  the  British  army,  who 
was  hanged  as  a  spy,  Oct.  2,  1780,  for  having  attempted  to  con- 
duct secret  negotiations  with  Benedict  Arnold  for  the  surrender 


268  ROBERT  HALL. 


of  West  Point,  were,  when  asked  on  the  scaffold  if  he  had  any 
thing  to  say :  "  Nothing  but  to  request  you  to  witness  to  the 
world  that  I  die  like  a  brave  man." 

ROBERT  HALL. 

[An  eloquent  Baptist  minister;  born  in  Leicestershire,  England, 
1764;  educated  at  Aberdeen;  preached  at  Cambridge,  Leicester,  and 
Bristol;  died  1831.] 

The  battle  of  Waterloo  and  its  results  appeared  to  me 
to  put  back  the  clock  of  the  world  six  degrees. 

GREGORY  :  Life,  note  A. 

He  said  of  Bishop  Watson,  "  He  married  public  virtue  in  his 
early  days,  but  seemed  forever  afterwards  to  be  quarrelling  with 
his  wife."  —  Ibid. 

He  called  John  Wesley  "  the  quiescence  of  turbulence ; '"  be- 
cause, while  he  set  all  in  motion,  he  himself  was  perfectly  calm 
and  phlegmatic. 

Of  a  nervously  modest  man,  Mr.  Hall  remarked,  "  Poor  Mr. 
seems  to  beg  pardon  of  all  flesh  for  being  in  this  world." 

To  a  man  who  asked  him  for  a  glass  of  brandy  and  water,  he 
said,  "You  should  ask  for  liquid  fire  and  distilled  damnation." 
—  Ibid. 

Reviewing  Mrs.  Hannah  More,  he  called  "  throwing  soft  peas 
against  a  rock."  — Ibid. 

I  keep  my  nonsense  for  the  fireside,  while  you  publish 
yours  from  the  pulpit. 

To  a  minister  who  expressed  his  surprise  at  Mr.  Hall's  frivo- 
lous conversation  after  preaching  a  serious  discourse. 

He  said  of  a  certain  clergyman,  "  His  head  is  so  full  of  every 
thing  but  religion,  that  one  might  be  tempted  to  fancy  that  he 
has  a  Sunday  soul,  which  he  screws  on  in  due  time,  and  takes 
off  every  Monday  morning." 

When  a  lady  replied,  to  a  request  for  a  subscription,  that  she 
would  wait  and  see,  Mr.  Hall  said,  "  She  is  watching,  not  to  do 
good,  but  to  escape  from  it." 

Being  told  that  his  animation  increased  with  years,  he  replied, 


HANDEL.  2G9 


"  Then  I  am  like  touchwood,  —  the  more  decayed,  the  easier 
fired." 

Some  one  said  that  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury's  chaplain 
came  into  the  room  to  say  grace  at  dinner,  and  then  retired;  Mr. 
Hall  remarked,  "  His  grace,  not  choosing  to  present  his  own 
requests  to  the  King  of  kings,  calls  in  a  deputy  to  take  up  his 


messages." 


He  called  Tom  Paine's  writings  against  the  Bible,  "  a  mouse 
nibbling  at  the  wing  of  an  archangel." 

When  told  that  it  was  reported  he  was  about  to  marry,  he 
replied,  "  I  marry  Miss !  I  would  as  soon  marry  Beelze- 
bub's eldest  daughter,  and  go  home  and  live  with  the  old  folks ! " 

He  called  Owen,  the  geologist,  "a  valley  of  dry  bones." 

A  tedious  friend  visited  him  at  the  asylum  during  a  temporary 
aberration  of  mind,  and  asked  him  what  brought  him  there: 
"  What'll  never  bring  you,  sir,"  replied  Hall,  —  "  too  much  brain, 
sir ;  too  much  brain,  sir ! ' 

The  only  passage  in  an  egotistical  clergyman's  discourse  which 
Mr.  Hall  pronounced  very  fine  was  "the  passage  from  the  pulpit 
into  the  vestry." 

GEORGE  FREDERICK  HANDEL. 

[Properly  Haendel :  the  distinguished  musical  composer ;  born  at 
Halle,  in  Prussian  Saxony,  Feb.  24,  1684;  composed  sonatas  at  the 
age  of  ten;  after  study  in  Italy,  settled  in  England,  and  acted  as 
manager  of  the  new  Academy  of  Music,  and  of  a  theatre  in  which 
he  lost  his  fortune ;  devoted  himself  from  1728  to  the  production  of 
sacred  music,  composing  the  "Messiah,"  1741;  died  1759,  and  was 
buried  in  "Westminster  Abbey.] 

I  did  think  I  did  see  all  heaven  before  me,  and  the 
great  God  himself. 

Of  his  state  of  mind  during  the  composition  of  "  The  Messiah." 

Vy,  sir,  your  Highness  plays  like  a  prince. 

Being  asked  by  a  member  of  the  royal  family  how  he  liked 
his  playing  on  the  violoncello.  A  similar  answer  was  given  by 
Voltaire  to  the  Due  de  Villars,  who  asked  him  how  he  played 
the  part  of  Genghis  Khan  in  the  poet's  "  Orphelin,"  at  Ferney : 


270  HANNIBAL. 


"  Like  a  duke  and  peer."  Marat,  revolutionist  as  he  was, 
favored  the  restoration  of  their  titles  to  the  nobles,  because,  as 
he  said,  "a  duke  is  always  a  duke  "  (un  due  est  toujours  un  due). 
He  gave  that  as  a  reason  for  sentencing  to  death  the  republican 
Due  d'Orleans  (Egalite)  :  whatever  he  might  profess,  he  would 
always  be  a  noble.  Napoleon  said  of  the  desertion  of  some  of 
his  generals  after  his  first  abdication,  "  You  see,  my  dear  Gerard, 
that  the  blue  are  always  blue,  and  the  white  always  white." 

When  Philip  of  Macedon  corrected  a  musician  at  a  banquet, 
and  discoursed  with  him  concerning  notes  and  instruments, 
the  musician  replied,  "  Far  be  that  dishonor  from  your  majesty, 
that  you  should  understand  these  things  better  than  I  do."  — 
PLUTARCH:  Apothegms. 

Handel  said  at  a  state  concert  to  George  III.  when  a  child, 
"  You  will  take  care  of  my  music  when  I  am  dead." 

HANNIBAL. 

[The  Carthaginian  general;  born  about  247  B.C.;  was  taken,  when 
nine  years  of  age,  to  Spain  by  his  father;  became  commander-in-chief, 
221;  invaded  Italy,  218,  and  gained  the  battle  of  the  Trebia;  defeated 
Flaminius  at  Lake  Thrasymene,  and  ^Emilias  Paulus  and  Varro  at 
Cannre,  21G,  but  wasted  his  forces  at  Capua,  and  made  no  more  offen- 
sive movements;  evacuated  Italy,  203;  defeated  by  Scipio  at  Zama, 
202;  retired  to  Syria,  194,  and  to  Bithynia,  190,  where  he  took  poison 
to  escape  being  delivered  to  the  Romans,  183  B.C.] 

I  will  find  a  way  or  make  one  ( Viam  imeniam  autfaciam). 

Words  attributed  to  Hannibal,  of  the  passage  of  the  Alps  by 
(it  is  supposed)  the  pass  of  the  Little  St.  Bernard. 

After  gaining  a  great  victory  at  Cannae,  his  friends  urged  him 
to  pursue  the  fugitives,  and  enter  Rome  in  the  confusion  of  the 
panic,  promising  him  that  he  should  sup  in  the  Capitol  within 
four  days.  On  his  reply  that  it  required  deliberation,  a  Cartha- 
ginian named  Barca  upbraided  him,  saying,  "  Hannibal,  you 
know  how  to  gain  a  victory,  but  not  how  to  use  it."  "Occa- 
sion," observes  Luther,  "is  a  great  matter.  Terence  says  well,  '  I 
came  in  time,  which  is  the  chief  thing  of  all.'  Julius  Cnesar 
understood  occasion:  Pompey  and  Plannibal  did  not." — Table 
Talk,  848.  Pittacus,  one  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece,  to 


RUTHERFORD  B.   HAYES.  271 

whom  is  attributed  the  maxim,  "  Seize  time  by  the  forelock," 
used  also  to  say,  "  Know  the  fitting  moment ; "  with  which  the 
Emperor  Charles  V.,  according  to  Prescott  ("Philip  II.,"  Bk.  I. 
chap,  ix.),  made  a  partnership,  "Myself  and  the  lucky  moment." 
Plutarch  quotes  Zonarus  to  the  effect  that  Hannibal  himself 
acknowledged  afterwards  his  mistake  in  not  following  up  his 
victory,  and  used  to  cry  out,  "O  Cannae,  Cannae!" — Life  of 
Fabius  Maximus,  note. 

Let  me   deliver  them  from  the  terror  with  which  I 
inspire  them. 

When  mixing  the  poison  which  he  always  had  in  readiness, 
after  the  demand  of  Flaminius  that  he  should  not  be  permitted 
to  live  longer.  The  conduct  of  the  Roman  is  contrasted  with  that 
of  Scipio  Africanus,  who  met  his  former  antagonist  at  Ephesus, 
when  Hannibal  asserted  that  Alexander  was  the  greatest  general 
that  had  ever  lived,  Pyrrhus  the  second,  and  himself  the  third. 
Scipio  smiled  at  this,  and  asked,  "But  what  rank  would  you 
have  placed  yourself  in,  if  I  had  not  conquered  you?"  "O 
Scipio,"  replied  the  Carthaginian,  "  then  I  would  not  have  placed 
myself  the  third,  but  the  first."  Epaminondas,  when  called 
upon  to  decide  between  himself,  Chabrias,  and  Iphicrates,  replied, 
"  Wait  until  we  are  dead."  When  Maurice  of  Nassau,  second 
son  of  William  the  Silent,  and  even  more  distinguished  in  the 
field  than  his  father,  was  asked  who  was  the  greatest  living 
general,  he  replied,  "  Spinola  is  the  second."  (Spinola  was  an 
Italian  general  in  the  service  of  Spain  :  he  captured  Ostend  in 
1605,  and  gained  several  victories  over  Maurice  from  1621  to 
1625.)  An  Englishman  asked  Napoleon,  at  Elba,  who  was  the 
greatest  general  of  the  age,  adding,  "I  think,  Wellington;"  to 
which  the  emperor  replied,  "  He  has  not  yet  measured  himself 
against  me."  Dr.  Parr  once  said,  "  The  first  Greek  scholar  is 
Porson  ;  the  third  is  Dr.  Burney :  I  leave  you  to  guess  who  is  the 
second." 

RUTHERFORD  B.  HAYES. 

[Born  in  Delaware  County,  Ohio,  Oct.  4,  1822;  brigadier-general  in 
the  Civil  War;  member  of  Congress,  1864;  governor  of  Ohio  three 
terms;  President  of  the  United  States,  1877-S1.J 


272  HEINKICH  HEINE. 


He  serves  his  party  best,  who  serves  the  country  best. 

In  his  inaugural  address,  delivered  March  5,  1877  (March  4 
being  Sunday),  President  Hayes  advocated  a  single  presidential 
term  of  six  years,  and  said,  "  The  President  of  the  United  States, 
of  necessity,  owes  his  election  to  office  to  the  suffrage  and  zeal- 
ous labors  of  a  political  party,  the  members  of  which  cherish 
with  ardor,  and  regard  as  of  essential  importance,  the  principles 
of  their  party  organization.  But  he  should  strive  to  be  always 
mindful  of  the  fact,  that  he  serves  his  party  best  who  serves  the 
country  best." 

HEINRICH  HEINE. 

[German  poet  and  author;  born  at  Diisseldorf,  1800;  published 
"  The  Book  of  Songs,"  1827;  "  Pictures  of  Travel,"  1831;  removed  to 
Paris  in  that  year;  continued  literary  composition  after  the  failure 
of  his  health  in  1848,  until  his  death,  February,  1856.] 

When  people  talk  about  a  wealthy  man  of  my  creed, 
they  call  him  an  Israelite ;  but  if  he  is  poor  they  call 
him  a  Jew. 

Saying  that  he  knew  whether  people  were  talking  about  rich 
or  poor  Hebrews. 

I  am  afraid  you  will  find  me  very  stupid.  The  fact  is, 
Dr.  called  upon  me  this  morning,  and  we  ex- 
changed our  minds. 

Apologizing,  just  before  his  death,  to  Berlioz,  for  feeling  dull 
after  the  visit  of  a  tedious  German  professor. 

When  his  physician,  who  was  examining  his  chest,  asked  him 
if  he  could  siffler  (which  may  mean  to  breathe  forcibly  or  to 
hiss),  "  Xot  even  M.  Scribe's  plays,"  he  replied. 

Thought  is  the  unseen  nature,  as  nature  is  the  unseen 
thought. 

This,  and  the  following,  are  from  manuscript  papers,  contain- 
ing thoughts  noted  down  as  they  occurred  to  him :  — 

We  do  not  comprehend  ruins  until  we  are  ourselves  in  ruin. 

The  certificate  of  baptism  is  the  card  of  admission  to  European 
culture. 


HENRY  YIII.  273 


Junius  is  the  knight-errant  of  liberty,  who  fights  with  closed 
visor. 

Luther  shook  all  Germany  to  its  foundations ;  but  Francis 
Drake  pacified  it  again,  —  he  gave  us  the  potato. 

Rothschild,  too,  might  build  a  Valhalla,  a  Pantheon  for  all 
the  princes  who  have  raised  loans  from  him. 

A  communist  proposes  that  Rothschild  shall  share  with  him 
his  three  hundred  millions  of  francs.  Rothschild  sends  him  his 
share,  nine  sous  :  "  Now,- then,  let  me  have  peace." 

When  a  king  has  lost  his  head,  there  is  no  further  help  for  him. 

Napoleon  was  not  of  that  wood  of  which  kings  are  made:  he 
was  of  that  marble  of  which  gods  are  formed. 

Atheism  is  the  last  word  of  theism  (L'atheisme  est  le  der- 
nier mot  du  theisme). 

To  some  one  who  said  he  could  understand  rationalism,  but 
not  atheism. 

HENRY  VIII. 

[King  of  England;  born  at  Greenwich,  1491;  ascended  the  throne, 
1509;  defeated  the  Scotch  at  Flodden  Field,  1513;  contended  for  su- 
premacy with  Charles  V.  and  Francis  I. ;  declared  Supreme  Head  of 
the  Church,  1531;  excommunicated,  1538;  died  1547;  his  sixth  wife, 
Catherine  Parr,  surviving  him.] 

He  whom  I  favor  wins  (Cui  adhcereo  prceest). 

The  motto  on  his  tent  in  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  a 
plain  near  Calais,  France,  on  which  Henry  met  Francis  I.,  and 
held  for  nearly  three  weeks  a  series  of  magnificent  entertain- 
ments, June,  1520. 

Get  my  bill  passed  by  to-morrow,  or  else  to-morrow 
this  head  of  yours  will  be  off ! 

To  Mr.  Edward  Montague,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, which  hesitated  to  pass  a  bill  dissolving  certain  monas- 
teries, 1536.  The  bill  passed.  On  another  occasion  when  the 
House  hesitated  in  the  morning,  but  proved  tractable  in  the 
afternoon,  he  said,  "  It  was  well  you  did,  or  your  heads  would 
have  been  upon  Temple  Bar." 


274  HENRY  IY. 


Cranmer  has  got  the  right  sow  by  the  ear. 

Giving  his  decision  in  favor  of  Cranmer's  opinion  concerning 
the  best  method  of  procuring  his  divorce  from  Catherine  of 
Aragon.  When  Sir  Robert  Walpole  was  asked  how  he  had  over- 
come Sir  Spencer  Compton.  to  whom  the  king  was  partial,  he 
replied,  "  He  got  the  wrong  sow  by  the  ear,  and  I  the  right." 
"  So  vulgar  and  idiomatic,"  says  Jennings,  "  are  the  phrases  of 
English  monarchs  and  ministers."  —  Anecdotal  History  of  Parlia- 
ment. Heywood's  "  Proverbs,"  published  the  year  before  the 
king's  death,  contains  this  one ;  and  it  is  used  by  Jonson  and 
Colman,  and  occurs  in  "  Hudibras,"  II.  3,  580. 

HENRY  IV. 

[King  of  France  and  Navarre ;  founder  of  the  royal  house  of  Bour- 
bon; born  at  Pau,  Dec.  14,  1553;  educated  by  his  mother  in  the  Prot- 
estant faith;  married  the  sister  of  Charles  IX.,  and  barely  escaped 
the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew;  became  king  of  France,  1589,  on 
the  failure  of  the  house  of  Valois ;  was  opposed  by  the  Due  de  May- 
enne,  over  whom  he  gained  the  battle  of  Ivry,  15(JO;  embraced  the 
Catholic  religion,  1593;  entered  Paris,  1594;  proclaimed  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  1598;  encouraged  manufactures,  agriculture,  and  learning; 
assassinated,  May  14,  1610.] 

I  am  your  king,  you  are  Frenchmen,  there  are  the 
enemy :  let  us  charge!  (Je  suis  votre  roi,  vous  etes  Franqais, 
voila  rennemi,  donnons!) 

At  Ivry,  near  Evreux,  in  North-western  France,  where,  as 
already  mentioned  (p.  221),  he  told  his  followers  to  keep  his 
white  plume  in  view. 

For  many  years  his  inexhaustible  spirits  had  sustained  a  cause 
which  often  looked  desperate ;  and  on  that  day,  when  told  that 
he  had  provided  no  place  of  retreat,  he  replied,  "  There  is  no 
other  retreat  than  the  field  of  battle." 

To  the  Comte  de  Belin,  who  had  been  captured  by  Henry's 
light  horse,  and  who,  when  brought  to  the  camp,  looked  around 
for  an  army,  but  saw  only  small  parties  of  soldiers  here  and 
there,  the  king  exclaimed  with  a  gay  and  confident  air,  "You 
do  not  perceive  all  that  I  have  with  me,  M.  de  Belin,  for  you 
do  not  reckon  God  and  the  right  on  our  side."  This  was  similar 


HENRY  IV.  275 


to  the  countersign  given  by  Richard  I.  at  the  battle  of  Gisors, 
where  his  troops  defeated  the  French  in  1198:  "God  and  my 
right "  (Dieu  et  mon  droify,  afterwards  the  motto  of  the  arms  of 
England. 

While  Mohammed  and  Abu-Bekir  were  in  a  cave  near  Mecca, 
before  starting  on  the  Hegira  to  Medina,  the  latter,  contrasting 
their  weakness  with  the  strength  of  the  enemy,  which  was  led  by 
the  powerful  tribe  of  Koreish,  said,  "  We  are  but  two."  -  "  No," 
replied  the  prophet,  "  there  is  a  third :  it  is  God  himself." 

Hang  yourself,  brave  Crillon. 

Henry  had  already,  in  September,  1589,  defeated  five  times  his 
number  at  Arques,  where  he  said  to  an  old  officer  of  the  Swiss 
regiment,  "  Father,  keep  me  a  pike  here ;  for  I  intend  to  fight 
at  the  head  of  your  battalion."  While  endeavoring  to  rally  his 
cavalry,  he  exclaimed  to  each  horseman,  man  by  man,  "  Cannot 
I  find  fifty  gentlemen  in  all  France  resolute  enough  to  die  with 
their  king?  "  He  called  out  to  a  colonel  whose  regiment  he  was 
leading  to  a  charge,  "  Comrade,  I  have  come  to  die  or  win  honor 
along  with  you."  It  was  after  this  battle  that  he  wrote  to  his 
friend  Crillon,  the  Ney  of  the  sixteenth  century :  "  Hang  your- 
self, brave  Crillon :  we  have  fought  at  Arques,  and  you  were  not 
there;  but  I  love  you  all  the  same."  This  letter,  which  Fournier 
compares  with  that  of  Francis  I.  after  Pavia,  gained  its  celebrity 
by  appearing  in  a  note  to  Voltaire's  "  Henriade,"  VIII.  109 ;  but 
it  had  already  been  printed  in  Bening's  "Bouclier  d'Honneur," 
Avignon,  1616.  It  was  not  written  from  the  field  of  Arques, 
where  Crillon  could  not  have  been,  as  in  1589  he  had  not  joined 
Henry's  party,  but  from  the  camp  before  Amiens,  Sept.  20, 
1597,  an  occasion  not  sufficiently  brilliant  to  serve  the  purpose 
of  the  "  Inventor  of  History,"  as  Mine,  du  Deffand  called  Vol- 
taire. The  first  sentence  of  the  letter  to  the  brave  Grillon,  as 
Henry  calls  him,  is,  "  Hang  yourself  for  not  having  been  near 
me  last  Monday,  on  the  finest  occasion  which  ever  was,  and 
which  may  never  be  again"  (Pendes-vous  de  n' avoir  este  icy  pres  de 
inoy,  lundy  dernier,  a  la  plus  belle  occasion  qui  se  soil  jamaix  vcue,  et 
qui  peut-estre  ne  se  verra  jamais).  ...  I  hope  to  be  next  Thursday 
in  Amiens,  where  I  shall  tarry  but  little,  but  attempt  some  under- 
taking, for  which  I  have  the  finest  army  imaginable.  It  only 


276  HENRY  IV. 


lacks  the  brave  Crillon,  who  will  always  be  welcome."  Similar 
notes  are  possessed  by  great  families  in  France,  written  by  Henry 
to  their  ancestors ;  as  that  to  one  Manaud  de  Batz,  in  which  the 
king  says,  "  Those  who  obey  implicitly  their  conscience  are  of 
my  religion ;  and  I  am  of  the  religion  of  all  those  who  are  brave 
and  good  "  (Ceux  qui  suyvent  tout  droict  leur  conscience  sont  de  ma 
relygion,  et  je  suis  de  celie  de  tons  ceux-la  quy  sont  braves  et  bom}. 
When,  about  to  cut  off  from  Paris  its  source  of  provisions,  he 
wrote  "as  from  the  saddle-bow:"  "I  am  going  to  be  the  good 
physician  of  my  people,  and  prescribe  a  diet  which  will  bring 
them  back  to  health; "  and,  in  ordering  the  seizure  of  five  wine- 
boats  coming  down  the  Seine,  "Let  nothing  pass  before  conva- 
lescence: then  we  will  have  a  feast  together  "  (Ne  leur  laisses  rien 
passer  avant  la  convalescence,  se  sera  pour  la  fester  tous  ensemble}.  — 
L 'Esprit  dans  VHistoire,  chap.  xxxv. 

The  charm  which  drew  men  to  Henry  was  a  natural  one ;  but 
he  had  a  maxim  which  explained  his  success  :  "  Men  catch  more 
flies  with  a  spoonful  of  honey  than  with  twenty  tons  of  vinegar" 
(On  prend  plus  de  mouches  avec  une  cuilleree  de  miel  qu'avec  vingt 
tonneaux  de  vinaigre}.  This  has  also  been  attributed  to  St. 
Francis  de  Sales. 

Henry's  unconventional  manner,  which,  later  on,  assumed  a 
bluffness  bordering  on  rudeness,  is  shown  by  his  willingness  to 
find  a  place  of  refuge,  without  the  protection  which  his  attend- 
ants thought  necessary:  "Who  ever  heard,"  he  said,  "of  a  king- 
dying  in  a  hovel  t ' 

I  am  going  to  take  the  perilous  leap. 

Voltaire,  when  seized  with  a  hemorrhage  a  few  weeks  before 
his  death,  said,  "  Like  my  Henry  IV. ,  to-day  I  take  the  perilous 
leap ;  "  alluding  to  the  words  of  the  king  to  Gabrielle  d'Estrees 
on  the  eve  of  his  reception  into  the  Catholic  Church,  "  C'est  de- 
main,  ma  belle  amie,  que  jefais  le  saut pe'rilleux." 

Watkins  says  that  Hobbes,  the  metaphysician,  was  very  much 
afraid  of  death,  which  he  called  "taking  a  leap  in  the  dark;  " 
and  his  last  words  were,  "  I  am  going  to  take  a  great  leap  into 
obscurity."  —  Anecdotes  of  Men  of  Learning  and  Genius. 

The  Earl  of  Derby  said  in  the  House  of  Lords,  Aug.  6,  1867, 
on  the  third  reading  of  Disraeli's  Reform  Bill,  "  No  doubt,  we 


HENRY  IV.  277 


are  making  a  great  experiment,  and '  taking  a  leap  in  the  dark.' ' 
The  expression  is  given  as  the  translation  of  the  last  words  at- 
tributed to  Rabelais,  "  Je  m'en  vay  chercher  un  grand  Peut-eslre  ' 
(literally:  I  am  going  in  search  of  a  great  Perhaps). 

As  a  reason  for  taking  this  leap,  we  have  the  celebrated  mot  : 
"  Paris  is  worth  a  mass  "  (Pam  vaut  une  messe :  or,  La  couronne 
vaut  bien  une  messe).  "  In  whatever  form  it  may  be  given,"  it  is, 
says  Fournier,  "  a  very  impudent  expression.  If  it  had  occurred 
to  Henry,  when  he  resolved  to  abjure  his  religion  in  order  to 
make  his  entrance  to  Paris  and  to  the  throne  smoother,  he  was 
too  shrewd  to  give  utterance  to  it."  Fournier,  therefore,  sub- 
scribes to  the  theory  that  when  Henry  IV.  asked  the  Baron  de 
Rosny  (Sully),  why  he  did  not  go  to  mass  like  himself,  the 
Protestant  courtier  replied,  "  Sire,  the  crown  is  well  worth  a 


mass.' 


The  king  said  to  the  Catholic  clergy  in  1591,  when  he  was 
urging  them  to  be  patient  while  he  restored  the  prosperity  of  the 
Church,  "  Paris  was  not  built  in  a  day."  The  proverb,  "  Rome 
was  not  built  in  a  day,"  is  common  to  many  languages. 

When  at  last  he  entered  the  capital,  which  had  taken  sides  with 
the  League  against  him,  and  of  which  he  had  said  during  the 
siege,  "  I  had  rather  conquer  my  foes  by  kindness  than  by  arms," 
it  was  with  difficulty  that  he  could  make  his  way  through  the 
streets.  The  guards  would  have  kept  back  the  people  who 
crowded  around  him,  rejoiced  that  their  sufferings  were  over : 
Henry,  however,  forbade  it,  saying,  "  They  are  starving  to  see  a 
king."  He  had  refused  to  expose  them  to  the  fury  of  his  army : 
"Paris,"  he  said,  "must  not  become  a  graveyard;"  but  even 
without  the  horrors  of  an  assault,  their  condition  extorted  the 
comment,  "  Poor  people,  how  they  must  have  been  tyrannized 
over ! " 

Hannibal  had  dined. 

The  pomps  and  parades  of  royalty  had  no  charms  for  King 
Henry  IV.  Many  of  his  replies  to  wearisome  provincial  orators 
may  have  been  invented  by  the  ingenious  historiographers,  who 
have  fastened  their  own  fancies  to  his  name.  Thus,  when  a 
deputation  from  Marseilles  began  an  address:  "Hannibal  leaving 
Carthage"  —  The  king  interrupted  them  by  saying,  "Hannibal 


278  HENKY  IV. 


leaving  Carthage,  had  dined,  and  I  am  going  to  do  the  same." 
To  a  tiresome  deputy  who  said  that  the  new  Louvre  lacked 
nothing  but  completion,  the  king  replied,  "  Very  well :  it  will  be 
the  same  with  your  speech."  To  an  address  beginning:  "Very 
high,  puissant,  and  glorious  monarch  !  "  —  "  Add,  very  weary  !  " 
said  Henry.  Once,  however,  he  received  as  good  as  he  gave ; 
for,  threatening  the  Spanish  ambassador  that  if  he  were  pro- 
voked, "  he  wrould  breakfast  at  Milan,  and  dine  at  Naples,"  then 
in  possession  of  Spain,  the  minister  added,  "  And  your  majesty 
may  perhaps  arrive  in  Sicily  for  vespers,"  alluding  to  the  Sicilian 
Vespers,  or  the  massacre  of  eight  thousand  Frenchmen  in  Sicily, 
beginning  at  Palermo,  on  Easter  Monday,  1282. 

Two  sayings  date  from  this  event,  the  popular  but  incorrect 
version  of  which  Verdi  followed  in  his  "  Sicilian  Vespers." 
Peter  III.,  of  Aragon,  asserted  a  claim  to  Sicily  by  marriage,  in 
which  he  was  supported  by  the  Pope,  who  gave  him  a  secret 
deed  of  gift  of  the  fiefs  of  St.  Peter,  including  the  territory  in 
question.  His  interest  was  promoted  by  the  massacre,  of  the 
preparations  for  which  he  said,  "  I  would  cut  off  my  left  hand, 
if  it  were  conscious  of  the  intentions  of  the  right."  His  rival, 
Charles  of  Anjou,  when  informed  of  the  Sicilian  Vespers,  by 
which  his  power  in  that  island  was  overthrown,  exclaimed, 
"  O  God,  if  thou  hast  decreed  to  humble  me,  grant  me  a  gentle 
and  gradual  descent  from  the  pinnacle  of  greatness !  " 

If  God  shall  grant  me  the  ordinary  term  of  life,  I  hope 
to  see  France  in  such  a  condition  that  every  peasant 
shall  have  a  fowl  in  his  pot  on  Sunday  (je  veux  que 
le  dimanche  chaque  paysan  ait  lapoule,  aupot). 

The  well-known  wish  of  the'  king,  to  accomplish  which  he 
endeavored  to  amend  the  financial  state  of  France,  which  had 
been  reduced  to  a  condition  resembling  that  under  the  later 
Bourbons,  by  long  internal  wars,  and  the  mismanagement  and 
greed  of  the  Council  of  Finance.  In  his  efforts  to  this  end  he 
was  supported  by  the  Due  de  Sully,  one  of  the  purest  men  of  his 
time.  Not  only  was  the  minister  interested  in  the  material  wel- 
fare of  the  country,  but  he  exercised  a  wise  personal  influence 
over  his  royal  master.  The  king  had  drawn  up  in  favor  of 
Henriette  d'Entragues  a  written  promise  of  marriage,  which  he 


HENRY  IV.  279 


showed  to  Sully.  The  honest  minister  tore  up  the  document  in 
the  king's  presence.  "I  believe  you  are  mad,"  exclaimed  Henry 
with  an  oath.  "  True,  sire,  I  am,"  replied  Sully;  "but  would  to 
God  I  were  the  only  madman  in  France ! '  To  Ilenriette,  excus- 
ing himself,  the  king  said,  ''Know,  woman,  that  a  minister  like 
Sully  must  be  dearer  to  me  than  even  such  a  friend  as  you." 

Sully  was  sent  to  negotiate  with  the  pedantic  and  timid 
James  I.  of  England,  after  the  death  of  Elizabeth  had  put  the 
Protestants  of  the  Low  Countries  in  jeopardy.  James,  however, 
abandoned  them  for  an  alliance  with  Spain ;  which  caused  Henry 
to  call  him  "  the  wisest  fool  in  Christendom,"  and  Sully  to  desig- 
nate him  as  "the  wisest  of  the  idiots  of  Europe."  The  following 
verse  indicates  the  feeling  of  the  time  towards  "  King  Elizabeth 
and  Queen  James  : "  — 

"  Rex  fuit  Elizabeth,  et  mine  regina  Jacobus, 
Error  naturae  sic  in  utroque  fuit." 

Who  has  not  heard  of  Sully's  finding  the  king  riding  a  stick 
with  his  children  on  his  back,  and  of  Henry's  asking  him  if  he 
had  children  at  home  ?  upon  his  answering  in  the  negative, 
the  king  said,  "Tell  nobody  until  you  are  a  father  yourself." 
But  this  story  is  told  by  Plutarch  of  Agesilaus  the  Great,  king 
of  Sparta,  in  exactly  the  same  terms.  -  -  Laconic  Apothegms. 

Sully  appeared  but  seldom  at  the  frivolous  court  of  Louis 
XIII.,  Henry's  successor.  On  one  occasion,  however,  when  the 
king  had  sent  for  him,  and  the  courtiers  made  sport  of  his  old- 
fashioned  dress,  the  aged  minister  said,  "  Sire,  when  your  father 
did  me  the  honor  to  call  me,  he  dismissed  his  fools." 

If  I  perish,  my  last  thought  but  one  shall  be  given  to 
thee,  my  last  to  G-od. 

To  Gabrielle  d'Estrees,  when  expecting  a  battle.  At  another 
time,  when  she  expressed  her  surprise  that  he  should  promise  the 
Notables  at  Rouen  to  be  governed  by  their  advice  (se  mettre  en 
tutelle),  he  exclaimed,  "It  is  true,  but  venire  saint  gris !  I  under- 
stand it  with  my  sword  at  my  side  !  "  (Je  Ventends  avec  mon  epe'e 
au  cote /) 

That  variety  is  the  spice  of  love  as  well  as  of  life,  we  know 
from  the  famous  moral  which  Henry  drew  after  offering  his 


280  PATRICK  HENRY. 


father-confessor  successive  courses  of  partridge  during  an  entire 
dinner,  until  he  called  from  him  the  sorrowful  exclamation  of 
"  Toujours  perdrix ! ' 

PATRICK  HENRY. 

[An  American  orator;  born  in  Hanover  County,  Virginia,  1736; 
after  engaging  unsuccessfully  in  farming  and  business,  and  remaining 
several  years  in  obscurity  as  a  country  lawyer,  he  was  elected  to  the 
House  of  Burgesses  in  1765;  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
1774;  governor  of  Virginia,  1776-79,  1784-85;  died  June  6,  1799.] 

If  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it. 

In  a  speech  in  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses,  upon  a  series 
of  resolutions  which  he  offered  against  the  Stamp  Act.  "  It  was 
in  the  midst  of  this  magnificent  debate,"  says  his  biographer, 
"  while  he  was  descanting  on  the  tyranny  of  the  obnoxious  act, 
that  he  exclaimed  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  and  with  the  look  of  a 
god,  'Csesar  had  his  Brutus,  Charles  the  First  his  Cromwell, 
and  George  the  Third' —  'Treason!'  cried  the  speaker.  'Trea- 
son, treason ! '  echoed  from  every  part  of  the  House.  It  was  one 
of  those  trying  moments,  which  are  so  decisive  of  character. 
He  faltered  not  an  instant ;  but  rising  to  a  loftier  altitude,  and 
fixing  on  the  speaker  an  eye  of  the  most  determined  fire,  he 
finished  his  sentence  with  the  firmest  emphasis,  '  may  profit  by 
their  example.  If  this  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it.'"  — 
WIRT  :  Life.  His  resolutions  passed  the  House  by  a  small 
majority. 

Patrick  Henry  closed  a  speech  in  the  Virginia  Convention, 
March,  1775,  in  favor  of  a  resolution  "  that  the  colony  be  imme- 
diately put  in  a  state  of  defence,"  by  asking,  "  Is  life  so  dear,  or 
peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of  chains  and 
slavery?  Forbid  it,  almighty  God!  I  know  not  what  course 
others  may  take;  but  as  for  me,  give  me  liberty,  or  give  me 
death ! " 

THEODORE  EDWARD  HOOK. 

[A  witty  journalist  and  author;  born  in  London,  1788;  appointed 
by  the  prince  regent  secretary  of  the  Mauritius ;  on  his  return  edited 
newspapers;  died  1841.] 


VICTOR  HUGO.  281 


You   appear   to   have    emptied  your   wine-cellar  into 
your  bookseller. 

To  a  man  who  made  his  publisher  drunk  at  dinner. 

When  some  one  spoke  of  a  three-hours'  monologue  of  Cole- 
ridge, occasioned  by  seeing  two  soldiers  seated  by  the  wayside, 
"  Thank  Heaven,"  said  Hook,  "  that  he  did  not  see  a  regiment  1 
as  in  that  case  he  never  would  have  stopped." 

W.  J.  Thorns  wrote  in  "  The  Nineteenth  Century,"  December, 
1881,  that,  asking  Hook  what  sort  of  a  looking  man  the  drama- 
tist and  author  Planche  was,  "  Short  and  bald,"  he  replied :  "  he 
used  to  cut  his  hair,  but  now  his  hair  has  cut  him." 


VICTOR  HUGO. 

[Vicointe  Victor  Marie  Hugo,  the  French  poet  and  novelist;  born 
at  Besan9on,  Feb.  26,  1802;  published  his  first  poems,  1822;  became 
chief  of  the  Romantic  School  by  the  production  of  his  dramas  be- 
tween 1830-32;  published  "Notre  Dame  de  Paris,"  1831;  "  Les  Mise- 
rables,"  1862;  admitted  to  the  Academy,  1841;  peer  of  France,  1845; 
member  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  after  the  Revolution  of  1848, 
with  which  he  heartily  sympathized;  banished  by  Napoleon  after 
the  coup  d'etat  of  1851,  and  returned  to  France  the  day  after  Sedan, 
Sept.  5,  1870;  member  of  the  Assembly,  and  senator.] 

Kings    are    for  nations    in   their   swaddling   clothes: 
France  has  attained  her  majority. 

The  Revolution  of  1848  arrayed  Victor  Hugo,  son  of  a  Vendean 
mother,  and  the  schoolmate  of  the  Orleans  princes,  on  the  side 
of  democracy.  The  unfavorable  reception  his  dramas,  painting 
boldly  the  vices  of  kings,  had  met  from  the  liberal  government  of 
Louis  Philippe,  prepared  him  to  advocate  still  larger  liberties. 
When  "  Le  Roi  s'amuse  "  was  proscribed  on  the  ground  of  immo- 
rality, in  1832,  Hugo  said  to  the  Tribunal  of  Commerce,  to  which 
he  appealed,  "  To-day  I  am  banished  from  the  theatre,  to-morrow 
I  shall  be  banished  from  the  country.  To-day  I  am  gagged,  to- 
morrow I  shall  be  transported.  To-day  it  is  literature  that  is 
in  a  state  of  siege,  to-morrow  it  will  be  the  city."  Accordingly 
he  declared  as  a  republican  in  the  Assembly,  1851,  "A  republic 
may  be  called  the  climate  of  civilization ; "  and  again,  "  I  wish 
liberty  to  all,  as  I  wish  light  to  all." 


282  VICTOR  HUGO. 


Because  we  have  had  Napoleon  the  Great,  must  we 
have  Napoleon  the  Little? 

A  short  time  before  the  coup  cVttat,  the  Prince-President,  pay- 
ing a  visit  to  the  poet,  said,  "  There  are  two  men  whom  a  lofty 
ambition  might  propose  to  itself  as  models,  —  Napoleon  and 
Washington.  ...  I  am  not  a  great  man,  I  cannot  copy  Napo- 
leon ;  but  I  am  an  honest  man,  I  shall  imitate  Washington." 
In  a  sitting  of  the  Chamber,  July  17,  1851,  Victor  Hugo  said  in 
a  speech  on  the  proposed  revision  of  the  Constitution,  "  What 
means  the  prolongation  of  the  powers  of  the  president?  It 
means  the  consulate  for  life.  Where  does  a  life-consulate  lead  ? 
To  the  empire."  After  speaking  of  the  heroes  of  French  history, 
ending  with  Napoleon  I.,  whom  his  nephew  despaired  of  imitat- 
ing, he  hurled  at  the  president  this  thunderbolt:  "You  wish, 
even  you,  to  pick  up  the  crown  and  sceptre  after  him,  as  he  picked 
them  up, — he,  Napoleon,  after  Charlemagne,  —  and  to  take  in 
your  puny  hands  this  sceptre  of  Titans,  this  sword  of  giants ! 
Why?  For  what  purpose?  What!  After  Augustus,  Augustulus  ! 
What !  Because  we  have  had  Napoleon  the  Great,  must  we  have 
Napoleon  the  Little  ?  "  —  BARBOU  :  Life.  Kossuth  was  briefer : 
"  Copies  never  succeed."  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  Due  de 
Moray,  Louis  Napoleon's  right  hand  in  the  coup  d'etat,  wrote  to 
his  agents  on  the  3d  of  December :  "  If  you  arrest  Victor  Hugo, 
do  \vhat  you  will  with  him." 

Victor  Hugo  sought  refuge  in  Brussels,  which  being  denied 
him,  he  retired  to  the  island  of  Jersey.  But  even  there  he  con- 
tinued his  war  upon  the  Second  Empire.  Sir  Robert  Peel 
having  asked  in  the  House  of  Commons  if  an  "end  could  not  be 
put  to  the  fooleries  of  strangers  who  had  found  asylum  in  Great 
Britain,"  the  banished  poet  hurled  another  bolt  at  the  emperor, 
whom  he  summoned  to  meet  him  at  the  bar  of  truth  and  justice. 
"  M.  Bonaparte  is  right,"  he  said  :  "  there  is  a  personal  quarrel 
between  him  and  me,  —  the  old  personal  quarrel  of  the  judge  on 
his  bench  and  the  accused  at  his  bar." 

I  am  only  a  proscribed  man :  you  are  only  a  minister. 

While  in  Jersey,  he  interested  himself  in  a  man  condemned  in 
Guernsey  to  be  hanged ;  and,  other  applications  having  failed, 


VICTOR  HUGO.  283 


he  addressed  a  letter  to  Lord  Palmerston,  in  which  he  said,  "We 
inhabit,  you  and  I,  sir,  the  infinitely  little.  I  am  only  a  pro- 
scribed man :  you  are  only  a  minister.  I  am  ashes  :  you  are 
dust.  Sir,  keep  your  frivolities  for  earth  :  do  not  offer  them  to 
eternity." 

He  interceded  in  like  manner  for  the  life  of  John  Brown,  in 
"  A  Word  concerning  John  Brown,  to  Virginia,  Dec.  2, 1859."  Of 
this  appeal  Wendell  Phillips  made  the  following  use  in  Faneuil 
Hall,  Boston,  Dec.  21,  1860  :  "  You  may  name  Seward  in  Munich 
or  Vienna,  in  Pesth  or  in  Naples,  and  vacant  eyes  will  ask  you, 
'Who  is  he?'  But  all  Europe,  the  leaders  and  masses,  spoke 
by  the  lips  of  Victor  Hugo  when  he  said,  '  The  death  of  Brown 
is  more  than  Cain  killing  Abel :  it  is  Washington  slaying 
Spartacus.' " 

In  an  address  upon  the  abolition  of  the  death-penalty  in 
Geneva,  Nov.  17,  1862,  Hugo  said  of  Belgium,  Switzerland,  etc., 
"  There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  small  country.  The  greatness  of 
a  people  is  no  more  affected  by  the  number  of  its  inhabitants 
than  the  greatness  of  an  individual  is  measured  by  his  height ;  " 
and  again,  "Whoever  presents  a  great  example  is  great." 


Citizens,  I  said,  "  On  the  day  when  the  republic  returns, 
I  shall  return."    Here  I  am  ! 

The  first  words  of  the  brief  speech  he  made  at  the  Northern 
railway-station,  on  arriving  in  Paris  the  day  after  the  fall  of  the 
empire  in  1870.  He  ended  it  with,  "  It  is  through  fraternity 
that  liberty  is  saved."  He  accordingly  first  addressed  himself 
to  an  appeal  to  the  German  army  to  spare  Paris  :  "  There  has 
been  an  Athens,  there  has  been  a  Rome,  and  there  is  a  Paris. 
Paris  is  nothing  but  an  immense  hospitality."  (The  Abbe  Gali- 
ani  called  it  "the  cafe  of  Europe.")  Victor  Hugo  then  declares 
that  Paris,  if  attacked,  will  defend  herself.  "  As  for  me,  an  old 
man,  I  shall  be  without  arms.  It  will  be  enough  for  me  to  be 
with  the  people  who  die !  I  pity  you  for  being  with  the  people 
who  kill." 

Later  on,  he  would  have  spared  the  leaders  of  the  Commune ; 
saying  at  Brussels,  where  they  were  denied  domicile,  "If  I  were 
Jesus  Christ,  I  would  save  Judas." 

Addressing  a  meeting  of  workingmen  he  said,  "Labor is  life  ; 


284  JOHN  HUSS. 


thought  is  light ; "  and  again,  "  To  mount  from  a  workshop  to 
a  palace  is  rare  and  beautiful,  so  you  think :  to  mount  from 
error  to  truth  is  more  rare  and  more  beautiful." 

He  is  the  author,  in  a  speech,  of  the  oft-quoted  mot,  "  Forty  is 
the  old  age  of  youth,  fifty  is  the  youth  of  old  age." 

A  happy  compliment  was  paid  the  poet  by  the  Emperor  of 
Brazil,  Dom  Pedro  II.,  in  his  visit  to  Paris  in  1877.  Taking 
Victor  Hugo  by  the  hand,  he  said,  "  Re-assure  me,  M.  Hugo  :  I 
am  somewhat  timid." 

JOHN  HUSS. 

[A  reformer  of  the  Church;  born  in  Southern  Bohemia,  1373;  advo- 
cated at  Prague  the  doctrines  of  Wycliff  e ;  condemned  the  sale  of 
indulgences,  1412;  excommunicated  the  next  year;  cited  before  the 
council  of  Constance,  and  provided  with  a  safe-conduct  by  the  Ernpe- 
ror  Sigisimmd,  he  adhered  to  his  opinions,  and  was  burned  at  the 
stake,  July  6,  1415.] 

You  are  now  going  to  burn  a  goose ;  but  in  a  century 
you  will  have  a  swan,  whom  you  can  neither  roast 
nor  boil. 

At  the  stake,  "  Huss  "  signifying  "  goose  "  in  Bohemian :  he 
referred  to  Martin  Luther,  who  followed  him  a  century  later, 
and  had  a  swan  for  his  arms. 

The  exclamation,  "sancta  simplicitas  "  (sacred  simplicity),  called 
forth  from  the  dying  reformer  as  he  saw  a  child  bringing  up  his 
stick  in  ignorant  imitation  of  the  servants  of  the  council  who 
were  heaping  the  fagots  around  him,  was  first  applied  in  the 
Latin  continuation  by  Rufinus  of  "  The  History  of  the  Church," 
by  Eusebius,  to  the  victory  of  a  simple  confessor  of  the  faith, 
over  the  hitherto  invincible  philosophers  of  the  Arian  faction. 

ANDRE  W  JACKSON. 

[An  American  general  and  statesman;  born  in  North  Carolina, 
March  15,  1767;  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Nashville,  Tenn.,  1788; 
representative  to  Congress,  1796;  senator,  1797;  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Tennessee,  1798-1804;  defended  New  Orleans  against  the 
British,  1815;  served  in  the  Creek  and  Seminole  wars;  governor  of 
Florida,  1821;  United-States  senator,  1823;  President  of  the  United 
States,  1829-1837;  suppressed  nullification,  1832;  died  June  8,  1845.] 


JAMES  I.  285 


Our  federal  Union,  it  must  be  preserved. 

At  a  banquet  at  Washington,  on  Jefferson's  birthday,  April 
30,  1830.  When  the  regular  toasts  which  savored  of  the  doctrine 
of  nullification  had  been  given,  the  President  was  called  upon  for 
a  volunteer  sentiment,  and  gave  what  was  thought  to  be  an 
impromptu,  but  what  had  in  reality  been  prepared  with  delibera- 
tion. It  electrified  the  country,  and  became  a  watchword. 

When  asked  in  his  last  illness  by  Dr.  Edgar  what  he  would 
have  done,  had  Calhoun  and  his  followers  persisted  in  their 
attempt  of  nullification,  he  answered,  "  Hung  them,  sir,  as  high 
as  Haman!  They  should  have  been  a  terror  to  traitors  to  all 
time,  and  posterity  would  have  pronounced  it  the  best  act  of  my 
life."  "As  he  said  these  words,"  says  his  biographer  Parton, 
*'  he  half  rose  in  bed,  and  all  the  old  fire  glowed  in  his  eyes 
again." 

JAMES  I. 

[King  of  England,  and  Sixth  of  Scotland;  son  of  Mary,  Queen  of 
Scots,  and  Lord  Darnley;  born  in  Edinburgh,  June,  1566;  crowned 
king  of  Scotland,  and  placed  under  a  regency,  1567;  became  king  of 
England,  1603,  and  continued  for  a  time  the  foreign  policy  of  his 
predecessor  Elizabeth,  until  he  finally  sacrificed  his  son-in-law,  the 
Elector  Frederick,  and  Raleigh,  to  conciliate  Spain;  wrote  books 
of  pedantic  learning;  ordered  the  translation  of  the  Bible;  died 
March,  1625.] 

Steanie,  Steanie,  those  who  live  in  glass  housen 
should  be  carefu'  how  they  fling  stones. 

To  his  favorite,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  who  complained  of 
a  mob  breaking  his  glass  windows,  which  were  then  a  luxury. 

The  de'il  i1  my  saul,  sirrah,  an  you  be  not  quiet  I'll 
send  you  to  the  five  hundred  kings  in  the  House  of 
Commons :  they'll  quickly  tame  ye. 

To  his  horse,  when  unruly.  The  approaching  conflict  between 
the  Commons  and  the  Sovereign  is  discernible  in  so  slight  an 
anecdote  as  this. 

On  one  occasion,  having  made  a  declaration  to  Parliament,  he 
added,  "  I  have  now  given  you  a  clear  mirror  of  my  mind :  use 


286  JAMES  II. 


it  therefore  like  a  mirror,  and  take  heed  how  you  let  it  fall,  or 
how  you  soil  it  with  your  wrath."  Of  a  demand  of  the  House 
of  Commons  in  1621  to  debate,  make  laws,  and  redress  griev- 
ances, the  king  answered,  "  I  will  govern  according  to  the  com- 
mon weal,  but  not  according  to  the  common  will." 

When  some  of  his  subjects  in  an  address  prayed  that  his  Maj- 
esty might  live  as  long  as  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  endured, 
"  Faith,  maun,"  replied  James,  "  if  I  do,  my  sou  must  then  reign 
by  candle-light." 

He  was  a  bold  man  who  first  swallowed  an  oyster. 

JAMES  II. 

[King  of  England;  born  in  London,  1633;  escaped  from  the  Par- 
liamentarians, 1648,  and  remained  on  the  Continent  until  the  Res- 
toration; commanded  the  English  fleet  against  the  Dutch,  1664-72; 
declared  himself  a  Roman  Catholic;  ascended  the  throne,  1685; 
endeavored  to  fasten  the  Catholic  religion  upon  England,  and  perse- 
cuted Protestants,  until,  abandoned  by  the  nobility  and  gentry,  he 
left  England  on  the  approach  of  William  of  Orange;  after  an  unsuc- 
cessful attempt  in  Ireland,  lived  in  France  until  his  death,  Septem- 
ber, 1701.] 

I  will  lose  all,  or  win  all. 

To  the  Spanish  ambassador,  who  counselled  moderation  after 
the  trial  of  the  Seven  Bishops,  June,  1688.  That  he  preferred 
to  lose  all,  did  not  impress  favorably  even  those  among  whom 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Thus  Le  Tel  Her,  the 
worldly  and  luxurious  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  who  thought  that 
"no  man  could  be  honest  who  had  not  ten  thousand  livres  a 
year,"  failed  to  find  a  martyr  in  James.  "  The  simpleton,"  he 
said,  "has  given  up  three  kingdoms  for  a  mass"  (voila  un  bon- 
homme  qui  a  quitte  trois  royaumes  pour  une  rnesse). 

That  James  may  have  had  some  fear  of  his  attempt  to  convict 
the  bishops,  would  appear  from  his  question,  "  Do  you  call  that 
nothing  ?  "  when  told  that  a  noise  in  the  streets  was  nothing  but 

o  <~> 

the  people  cheering  the  popular  prelates  on  their  acquittal.  He 
was  urged  to  this  step  by  the  mistaken  idea  that  "indulgence 
ruined  my  father ; "  and  the  erroneous  impression  he  entertained 
of  his  position  is  seen  by  his  question  to  the  Duke  of  Somerset, 


THOMAS   JEFFERSON.  287 

who  said  he  could  not  obey  him  in  introducing  the  Pope's  nun- 
cio without  breaking  the  law :  "  Do  you  not  know  that  I  am 
above  the  law  ?  "  It  was  as  little  true  as  that  Sigismund  was 
above  grammar  (u.  p.  231). 

When  the  crisis  came,  he  was  not  without  coolness.  lie  was 
sitting  for  his  portrait  as  a  present  to  Pepys,  when  word  was 
brought  of  the  landing  of  William  of  Orange.  "  Go  on,  Kneller," 
he  said  to  the  artist,  "and  finish  your  work:  I  wish  not  to  disap- 
point my  friend  Pepys."  A  cry  of  nature  escaped  him,  however, 
when  told  that  his  daughter  Anne,  as  well  as  Mary,  was  on  the 
side  of  William :  "  God  help  me,  my  very  children  have  forsaken 
me !  " 

Years  afterwards,  when  witnessing  the  battle  of  La  Hogue, 
May  19,  1692,  where  his  late  subjects  were  arrayed  against  him- 
self and  France,  he  showed  that  "  blood  is  thicker  than  water  " 
by  exclaiming,  "  How  they  fight,  my  brave  Englishmen  !  " 

The  Earl  of  Rochester  drew  a  happy  distinction  between 
the  royal  brothers :  "  Charles  could  see  things  if  he  would :  the 
Duke  [James]  would  see  things  if  he  could." 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

[Born  at  Shadwell,  Va.,  April  2,  1743;  member  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  1764;  of  the  Continental  Congress,  1775;  of  the  Committee 
to  draught  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  governor  of  Virginia, 
1779-81;  in  Congress,  1783;  minister  to  France,  1785,  where  he  pub- 
lished his  "  Notes  on  Virginia;  "  Secretary  of  State  under  Washington, 
and  leader  of  the  Republican  party;  Vice-President  under  Adams; 
President  of  the  United  States,  1801-1809;  purchased  Louisiana, 
1803;  founded  the  University  of  Virginia,  1819;  died  July  4,  1826.] 

We  are  all  Federalists,  we  are  all  Republicans. 

When  both  parties  in  the  country  supported  internal  improve- 
ments. Thus  Napoleon,  when  First  Consul,  said,  "Let  there  be 
no  more  Jacobins,  nor  moderates,  nor  royalists :  let  all  be 
Frenchmen  !  " 

In  his  first  inaugural  address,  Jefferson  declared  that  "  error 
of  opinion  may  be  tolerated  where  reason  is  left  free  to  com- 
bat it;"  and  declared  himself  in  his  declaration  of  principles 
in  favor  of  "  equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  of  whatever 


288  JOSEPH  JEKYLL. 


state  or  persuasion,  religious  or  political ;  peace,  commerce,  and 
honest  friendship  with   all  nations,  entangling   alliances  with 


none." 


Few  die,  and  none  resign. 

In  a  letter  to  a  committee  of  the  merchants  of  New  Haven, 
1801,  he  asked,  "  If  a  due  participation  of  office  is  a  matter  of 
right,  how  are  vacancies  to  be  obtained?  Those  by  death  are 
few  :  by  resignation,  none."  There  would  seem,  then,  to  be  no 
other  course  but  a  system  of  removal  and  rotation ;  the  germ  of 
the  idea  expressed  so  epigrammatically  by  William  L.  Marcy,  of 
New  York,  in  the  United-States  Senate,  January,  1832,  in  speak- 
ing of  his  constituents,  who  "  see  nothing  wrong  in  the  rule,  to 
the  victors  belong  the  spoils  of  the  enemy." 

Certain  characteristics  of  Jefferson  declare  themselves  in  some 
less  famous  sayings.  His  modesty  prompted  the  reply  to  the 
remark  of  Comte  de  Vergennes,  "  You  replace  Mr.  Franklin,"  on 
his  appearance  at  the  court  of  Louis  XVI. :  "  I  succeed  him : 
no  one  could  replace  him."  His  courtesy  is  indicated  by  the 
reproof  he  gave  his  grandson,  who  did  not  return  a  negro's  bow : 
"  Do  you  permit  a  negro  to  be  more  of  a  gentleman  than  your- 
self?" Thus  Burke  said  to  a  young  man  who  treated  the 
respectful  salutation  of  a  servant  contemptuously,  "Never  permit 
yourself  to  be  outdone  in  courtesy  by  your  inferiors." 

He  wrote  to  his  daughter  Martha  from  France,  May  5,  1787 : 
"  Xo  person  will  have  occasion  to  complain  of  the  want  of  time 
who  never  loses  any." 

His  last  words  were,  "  I  resign  my  soul  to  God,  and  my 
daughter  to  my  country."  Among  his  papers  was  found  the 
political  watchword,  "  Resistance  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to  God," 
which,  if  intended  as  an  epitaph  upon  his  tomb,  was  replaced 
by  the  following,  composed  also  by  himself :  "  Here  was  buried 
Thomas  Jefferson,  Author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  religious  freedom,  and  Father  of 

the  University  of  Virginia." 

* 

JOSEPH  JEKYLL. 

[A  witty  English  barrister;  "born  about  1752;  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, and  solicitor-general  to  the  Prince  of  "Wales,  1805;  died  1837.] 


DOUGLAS  JERROLD.  289 

The  farther  I  go  west,  the  more  convinced  I  am  that 
the  "Wise  Men  came  from  the  East. 

Quoted  by  Sydney  Smith.  When  some  one  said  that  a  de- 
ceased attorney  left  but  few  effects,  "  It  could  scarcely  be  other- 
wise," remarked  Jekyll :  "  he  had  so  very  few  causes." 

Of  Lady  Cork,  the  friend  of  Dr.  Johnson  and  the  literati,  who 
wore  an  enormous  plume  at  one  of  her  receptions,  Jekyll  said 
she  was  "  exactly  a  shuttlecock,  —  all  Cork  and  feathers." 

DOUGLAS  JERJIOLD. 

[A  humorist,  journalist,  and  dramatic  writer;  born  in  London, 
1803;  wrote  his  first  play,  1824;  a  popular  contributor  to  "Punch," 
and  the  editor  of  several  magazines  and  newspapers;  died  1857.] 

There's  egotism! 

When  a  gentleman  exclaimed  at  supper,  "Sheep's-heads  for- 
ever !  *  To  a  man  who  told  him  he  had  dined  on  calf 's-tail 
soup,  "Extremes  meet,"  suggested  Jerrold. 

Of  a  young  artist  whose  talent  was  said  to  be  mediocre,  he 
said,  "  It  is  the  very  worst  ochre  an  artist  can  set  to  work  with." 

When  told  by  an  uninteresting  man  in  company  that  a  certain 
air  always  carried  him  away,  "Can  nobody  whistle  it?  "asked 
Jerrold. 

An  intoxicated  young  man  asked  him  the  way  to  the  "  Judge 
and  Jury :  "  "  Keep  on  as  you  are,  and  you  are  sure  to  overtake 
them,"  wras  the  answer. 

When  a  conceited  literary  man,  on  being  introduced  to  him, 
said  they  were  rowing  in  the  same  boat;  "But  not  with  the  same 
sculls,"  remarked  Jerrold. 

Put  me  down  for  one  of  the  noughts. 

When  told  that  "  a  four  and  two  noughts  "  would  put  a  needy 
acquaintance  on  his  feet  again. 

To  some  one  who  said  that  the  name  of  a  certain  Scotch  writer 
would  be  handed  down  to  posterity,  "  I  quite  agree  with  you," 
said  Jerrold,  "  that  he  should  have  an  itch  in  the  temple  of  fame." 
An  author  said  to  him  on  one  occasion,  "  I  hear  you  said 

*/ 

was  the  worst  book  I  ever  wrote:"    "I  said  it  was  the  worst 


290  DOUGLAS   JERROLD. 

book  anybody  ever  wrote,"  was  the  candid  reply.  Meeting  a 
prosy  old  fellow  in  Regent  Street,  who  struck  an  attitude,  and 
said,  "  Jerrold,  my  dear  boy,  what  is  going  on  ?  "  —  "I  am,"  re- 
plied the  latter,  and  instantly  shot  past  him. 

When  Dibdin  asked  him  if  he  had  sufficient  confidence  in  him 
to  lend  him  a  guinea,  "  Oh,  yes  !  "  he  replied,  "  I  have  the  confi- 
dence, but  I  have  not  the  guinea." 

Some  men  can  never  relish  the  full  moon  out  of  respect 
for  that  venerable  institution,  the  old  one. 

His  definition  of  dogmatism  was  "puppyism  full  grown." 

The  good  effect,  as  figures  in  the  landscape,  of  passengers  over 
a  footpath  in  his  grounds,  was  observed :  "  I  have  no  objection 
to  passengers,"  he  replied,  "provided  they  pass."  Sir  Boyle 
Roche  was  "  on  more  hospitable  thought  intent,"  when  he  said 
to  a  friend,  with  characteristic  infelicity,  "If  you  ever  come 
within  a  mile  of  my  place,  I  heartily  hope  you'll  stop  there." 

When  an  actor  asked  him  if  he  called  a  man  kind  who  re- 
mitted nothing  to  his  family  when  away,  "  Unremitting  kind- 
ness," was  the  answer. 

On  passing  in  a  graveyard  the  extremely  laudatory  epitaph  of 
a  cook  upon  his  wife,  "  Mock  turtle,"  was  Jerrold's  comment. 

When  a  clergyman  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  real  evil 
of  modern  times  was  the  surplus  population,  "  Or  the  surplice 
population,"  Jerrold  added. 

My  dear  Mr.  Pepper,  how  glad  you  must  be  to  see  all 
your  friends  mustered! 

At  Mr.  Pepper's  party. 

Of  a  man  who  had  left  the  stage,  and  turned  wine-merchant, 
"  I  am  told,"  said  Jerrold,  "  that  his  wine  off  the  stage  is  better 
than  his  whine  on  it." 

"  His  friendships  are  so  warm  that  he  no  sooner  takes  them 
up  than  he  puts  them  down  again,"  he  said  of  a  man  celebrated 
for  the  intensity  and  brevity  of  his  attachments. 

A  tall  man  dancing  at  a  ball  with  a  very  short  lady,  he  called 
"the  mile  dancing  with  the  milestone." 

"  Self-defence  is  the  clearest  of  all  laws,"  he  said ;  "  and  for 
this  reason,  —  the  lawyers  didn't  make  it." 


JOHN  II.  291 


JOHN  II. 

[King  of  France,  1350;  defeated  by  Edward  the  Black  Prince  at 
Poitiers,  Sept.  19,  1356;  made  prisoner  and  carried  to  England,  where, 
he  remained  in  honorable  captivity  until  13(50,  but,  rinding  on  his 
return  to  France  much  opposition  to  the  terms  of  peace  he  had  made 
with  Edward  III.,  he  again  visited  England,  where  he  died,  1364.] 

If  good  faith  were  banished  from  the  rest  of  the  world, 
it  should  be  found  in  the  mouth  of  kings  (<si  la  bonne 
foi  etait  bannie  du  reste  du  monde,  il  fallait  qiCon  la  trouvat  dans 
la  bouche  des  rois). 

The  answer  he  gave  his  council,  when  dissuaded  from  return- 
ing to  England  after  the  escape  of  his  son,  the  Due  d'Anjou, 
whom  Edward  III.  held  as  a  hostage.  Froissart,  however,  gives 
an  entirely  different  answer,  —  that  he  had  found  the  king  of 
England,  the  queen,  and  their  children,  so  courteous  and  honor- 
able, that  he  trusted  entirely  to  their  loyalty.  According  to 
another  version,  King  John  returned  in  order  to  see  again  the 
beautiful  Countess  of  Salisbury ;  and  the  last  stone  is  thrown  at 
this  discredited  mot  by  attributing  it,  in  nearly  similar  terms,  to 
another  royal  captive,  Francis  I.,  that  "  If  fidelity  were  lost,  it 
should  be  found  in  the  heart  of  a  king."  —  L' Esprit  dans  VHis- 
toire,  113,  note. 

SAMUEL  JOHNSON. 

[Born  in  Lichfield,  England,  Sept.  18,  1709;  educated  at  Oxford; 
removed  to  London,  1737;  commenced  "  The  English  Dictionary," 
1747;  "  The  Rambler,"  1749;  finished  "  The  Lives  of  the  Poets,"  1781; 
died  Dec.  13,  1784.] 

An  Athenian  blockhead  is  the  worst  of  all  blockheads. 

Overheard,  while  a  student  of  Pembroke  College,  uttering 
this  soliloquy:  "Well,  I  have  a  mind  to  see  what  is  done  in 
other  places  of  learning.  I'll  go  and  visit  the  universities 
abroad.  I'll  go  to  France  and  Italy.  I'll  go  to  Padua.  And 
I'll  mind  my  business.  For  an  Athenian  blockhead  is  the  worst 
of  all  blockheads ; '"  that  a  scholar  who  is  a  blockhead  is  the 
worst  of  all,  because  he  has  no  excuse.  —  BOSWELL  :  Life,  1729, 
and  note. 

When  Johnson  had  finished  part  of  his  tragedy  of  "  Irene," 


292  DR.   JOHNSON. 


he  read  it  to  Mr.  Walmesley,  who,  complaining  that  he  had 
already  brought  his  heroine  into  great  distress,  asked  him,  "  How 
can  you  contrive  to  plunge  her  into  deeper  calamity?"  Johnson, 
in  sly  allusion  to  the  supposed  oppressive  proceedings  of  the 
court  of  which  Mr.  Walmesley  was  registrar,  replied,  "  Sir,  I  can 
put  her  into  the  Spiritual  Court !  "  —  BOSWELL  :  Life,  1736. 

Thy  body  is  all  vice,  and  thy  mind  all  virtue. 

Of  his  friend,  the  gay  and  dissipated  Topham  Beauclerk,  who 
did  not  seem  to  relish  the  compliment :  Johnson  therefore  added, 
"  Xay,  sir,  Alexander  the  Great,  marching  in  triumph  into  Baby- 
lon, could  not  have  desired  to  have  more  said  of  him."  It  was 
Beauclerk,  who,  when  Goldsmith,  by  profession  a  physician,  said 
that  he  was  going  to  give  up  prescribing  for  his  friends,  approved 
of  it :  "When  you  undertake  to  kill,  let  it  be  only  your  enemies." 
At  another  time,  Beauclerk  and  Langton,  having  sat  up  until 
three  in  the  morning,  roused  Johnson,  who  went  out  with  them 
into  Covent  Garden,  and  from  there  to  Billingsgate,  where 
Langton  deserted  them,  being  engaged  to  breakfast  with  some 
young  ladies:  Johnson  scolded  him  for  "leaving his  social  friends 
to  go  and  sit  with  a  set  of  wretched,  un-idead  girls." 

I  am  glad  that  he  thanks  God  for  any  thing. 

When  told  that  Mr.  Andrew  Millar,  the  publisher  of  the  Dic- 
tionary, said  to  the  messenger  who  carried  him  the  last  sheet, 
"  Thank  God  I  have  done  with  him  !  " 

Millar,  though  no  great  judge  of  books  himself,  had  for  his 
friends  very  able  men,  who  advised  him  in  the  purchase  of 
copyright,  in  consequence  of  which  he  gained  a  large  fortune. 
"I  respect  Millar,"  said  Johnson:  "he  has  raised  the  price  of 
literature." 

A  good  hater. 

Dr.  Johnson  said  of  one  of  his  friends,  "  Dean  Bathurst  was  a 
man  to  my  very  heart's  content :  he  hated  a  fool,  and  he  hated 
a  rogue,  and  he  hated  a  Whig  ;  he  was  a  very  good  hater." 

Of  a  man  who  died  in  Jamaica,  Johnson  said,  "  He  will  not, 
whither  he  has  now  gone,  find  much  difference  either  in  the 
climate  or  the  company.  "  —  PIOZZI  :  Johnsoniana. 


DR.   JOHNSON.  293 


If  a  man  does  not  make  new  acquaintance  as  he  ad- 
vances through  life,  he  will  soon  find  himself  left 
alone.  A  man,  sir,  should  keep  his  friendship  212  con- 
stant repair. 

To  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  And  again,  "  The  more  a  man  ex- 
tends and  varies  his  acquaintance,  the  better." 

"No  man  will  be  a  sailor,"  he  said,  "who  has  contrivance 
enough  to  get  himself  into  a  jail;  for  being  on  a  ship  is  being 
in  a  jail,  with  the  chance  of  being  drowned  ;  "  and  at  another 
time,  "  A  man  in  a  jail  has  more  room,  better  food,  and  com- 
monly better  company." 

The  noblest  prospect  which  a  Scotchman  ever  sees  is 
the  highroad  that  leads  him  to  England. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Ogilvie,  a  Scotch  poet,  meeting  Johnson  for  the 
first  time,  unfortunately  chose  the  topic  of  his  own  country,  and 
remarked  that  Scotland  had  a  great  many  noble  wild  prospects. 
Johnson  thereupon  "tossed  him,"  as  Boswell  called  it,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  I  believe,  sir,  you  have  a  great  many.  Norway,  too, 
has  noble  wild  prospects,  and  Lapland  is  remarkable  for  pro- 
digious noble  wild  prospects.  But,  sir,  let  me  tell  you,  the 
noblest  prospect  which  a  Scotchman  ever  sees  is  the  highroad 
that  leads  him  to  England !  " 

Lord  Eldon's  answer  to  Boswell,  who  asked  him  to  define 
taste,  may  be  quoted  here :  "  Taste,  according  to  my  definition, 
is  the  judgment  you  manifested  when  you  determined  to  leave 
Scotland  and  come  to  the  South." 

When  Boswell,  on  being  introduced  to  Johnson  as  "from 
Scotland,"  knowing  the  lexicographer's  dislike  of  that  country, 
said  apologetically,  "  I  do  indeed  come  from  Scotland,  but  I  can- 
not help  it,"  Johnson  replied,  "  That,  sir,  I  find,  is  what  a  very 
great  many  of  your  countrymen  cannot  help." 

Johnson  said  he  had  lately  (1768)  been  a  long  while  at  Lich- 
field,  but  had  grown  very  weary' before  he  left  it.  Boswell  won- 
dered at  that,  as  it  was  his  native  place.  "  Why,"  retorted  the 
doctor,  "  so  is  Scotland  your  native  place."  His  prejudice  against 
that  country  appeared  to  his  biographer  remarkably  strong  at 
that  time,  although  his  invectives  were  rather  said  in  pleasantry 
than  earnest.  Of  Scotch  literature  he  remarked,  "  Sir,  you  have 


294  DR.   JOHNSON. 


learned  a  little  from  us,  and  think  yourselves  very  great  men. 
Hume  would  never  have  written  history,  had  not  Voltaire  writ- 
ten it  before  him.  He  is  an  echo  of  Voltaire."  At  another 
time  Boswell  said  he  had  been  in  the  humor  of  wishing  to  retire 
to  a  desert  ;  to  which  Johnson  replied,  "  Sir,  you  have  desert 
enough  in  Scotland."  Boswell  having  said  that  England  was 
indebted  to  Scotland  for  her  gardeners,  "It  is  because,"  replied 
Johnson,  "  good  gardening  is  much  more  necessary  amongst  you 
than  with  us,  which  makes  so  many  of  your  people  learn  it.  It 
is  all  gardening  with  you.  Pray,  now,  are  you  ever  able  to  bring 
the  sloe  to  perfection  ?  " 

Much  may  be  made  of  a  Scotchman,  if  he  be  caught 
young. 

He  would  not  allow  any  credit  to  Scotland  for  giving  birth  to 
Lord  Mansfield,  for  he  was  educated  in  England.  "  Much,"  said 
Johnson,  "maybe  made  of  a  Scotchman,  if  he  be  caught  young." 

When,  after  the  publication  of  the  "  Tour  to  the  Hebrides," 
an  Irish  friend  expressed  an  apprehension,  that,  if  Johnson 
visited  Ireland,  he  might  treat  the  people  of  that  country  more 
unfavorably  than  he  had  done  the  Scotch,  he  replied,  "  Sir,  you 
have  no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  me.  The  Irish  are  not  in  a  con- 
spiracy to  cheat  the  world  by  false  representations  of  the  merits 
of  their  countrymen.  No,  sir,  the  Irish  are  a  fair  people  :  they 
never  speak  well  of  one  another."  —  BOSWELL:  Life,  1775. 

On  the  memorable  occasion  of  the  meeting  of  Dr.  Johnson 
and  John  Wilkes  at  dinner,  Mr.  Arthur  Lee  spoke  of  some 
Scotchmen  who  had  taken  possession  of  a  barren  part  of  Amer- 
ica, and  wondered  why  they  should  choose  it.  Said  the  doctor, 
"  Why,  sir,  all  barrenness  is  comparative.  The  Scotch  would  not 
know  it  to  be  barren."  Boswell  asked  him  if  he  did  not  see 
meat  and  drink  enough  in  Scotland,  when  he  visited  it.  "  Why, 
yes,  sir :  meat  and  drink  enough  to  give  the  inhabitants  suffi- 
cient strength  to  run  away  from  home."  After  dinner,  some 
one  said,  "Poor  England  is  lost ! "  Johnson  made  "the  strong 
and  pointed  reply,  alluding  to  Lord  Bute's  influence,  '  Sir,  it  is 
not  so  much  to  be  lamented  that  Old  England  is  lost,  as  that 
the  Scotch  have  found  it.'"— Ibid.,  1776. 

AVhen  Mrs.  Thrale  expressed  a  desire  to  see  Scotland,  John- 


DR.   JOHNSON.  295 


son  told  her  that  seeing  Scotland  was  only  seeing  a  worse  Eng- 
land :  "  It  is  seeing  the  flower  gradually  fade  away  to  the  naked 
stalk." 

He  would  not  have  said  of  Buchanan,  the  historian,  had  he 
been  an  Englishman,  what  he  did  say  of  him  as  a  Scotchman, 
that  "he  was  the  only  man  of  genius  his  country  ever  pro- 
duced." Johnson  admitted  to  Boswell  that  he  could  not  trace 
the  cause  of  his  antipathy  to  the  Scotch ;  and,  when  told  that 
it  was  thought  to  come  from  the  fact  that  they  sold  Charles  I., 
he  confessed  that  it  was  a  very  good  reason.  —  Ibid.,  1783. 

Boswell  stated  that  a  beggar  starving  in  Scotland  was  an 
impossibility ;  to  which  Johnson  replied,  "  That  does  not  arise 
from  the  want  of  beggars,  but  from  the  impossibility  of  starving 
a  Scotchman."  "It  is  to  no  purpose  to  tell  me,"  he  said,  "that 
eggs  are  a  penny  a  dozen  in  the  Highlands  :  that  is  not  because 
eggs  are  many,  but  because  pence  are  few  ;  "  and  of  their  learn- 
ing, "  It  is  like  bread  in  a  besieged  town  :  every  man  gets  a  little, 
but  no  man  gets  a  full  meal."  His  definition  of  "  oats  "  was  one 
of  the  curiosities  of  the  Dictionary :  "  A  grain  which  in  Eng- 
land is  generally  given  to  horses,  but  in  Scotland  supports  the 
people." 

Sydney  Smith  said,  "  It  takes  a  surgical  operation  to  get  a 
joke  well  into  a  Scotch  understanding." 

Sir,  I  perceive  you  are  a  vile  Whig. 

To  Sir  Adam  Ferguson,  who  maintained  that  it  was  impor- 
tant to  keep  up  a  spirit  of  liberty  in  a  people,  so  as  to  preserve 
a  balance  against  the  crown.  —  Ibid.,  1772.  Johnson  also  said, 
in  1778,  "The  first  Whig  was  the  Devil."  "A  Jacobite,"  he 
remarked,  "is  neither  an  Atheist  nor  a  Deist;  which  could  not 
be  said  of  a  Whig,  for  Whiggism  is  a  negation  of  all  principle." 
"  The  notion  of  liberty,"  he  once  declared,  "  amuses  the  people 
of  England,  and  helps  to  keep  off  the  tedium  vitce.  When  a 
butcher  tells  you  that  his  heart  Meeds  for  his  country,  he  has  in 
fact  no  uneasy  feeling."  However,  in  a  discussion  with  Gold- 
smith upon  the  maxim  that  "  The  king  can  do  no  wrong,"  John- 
son asserted  that  redress  was  always  to  be  had  against  oppression 
by  punishing  the  immediate  agents,  and  that  it  is  better  that  a 
nation  should  have  a  supreme  legislative  power,  even  if  it  be  at 


296  DR.  JOHNSON. 


times  abused ;  adding,  "  If  the  abuse  be  enormous,  Nature  will 
rise  up,  and,  claiming  her  original  rights,  overturn  a  corrupt 
political  system,"  —  an  evidence,  Boswell  claimed,  of  his  "digni- 
fied spirit  of  freedom." 

All  Christians,  whether  Papists  or  Protestants,  agree 
in  the  essential  articles  ;  and  their  differences  are 
trivial,  and  rather  political  than  religious. 

He  said,  however,  "A  man  who  is  converted  from  Protestant- 
ism to  Popery  may  be  sincere :  he  parts  with  nothing ;  he  is 
only  superadding  to  that  he  already  had.  But  a  convert  from 
Popery  to  Protestantism  gives  up  so  much  of  what  he  has  held 
as  sacred  as  any  thing  that  he  retails,  there  is  so  much  lacera- 
tion of  mind  in  such  a  conversion,  that  it  can  hardly  be  called 
sincere  and  lasting." 

"  The  morality  of  an  action,"  he  declared,  "depends  upon  the 
motive  upon  which  we  act.  If  I  fling  half  a  crown  to  a  beggar, 
with  intention  to  break  his  head,  and  he  picks  it  up,  and  buys 
victuals  with  it,  the  physical  effect  is  good;  but,  with  respect  to 
me,  the  action  is  very  wrong." 

No  money  is  better  spent  than  what  is  laid  out  for 
domestic  satisfaction.  A  man  is  pleased  that  his 
wife  is  dressed  as  well  as  other  people ;  and  a  wife 
is  pleased  that  she  is  dressed. 

When  he  leaves  our  house,  let  us  count  our  spoons. 

Of  a  man  who  claimed  there  was  no  distinction  between  virtue 
and  vice. 

There  is  nothing,  sir,  too  little  for  so  little  a  creature 
as  man. 

To  Boswell,  who  was  afraid  he  put  into  his  journal  too  many 
little  incidents. 

Pity  is  not  natural  to  man.  Children  are  always  cruel. 
Savages  are  always  cruel. 

Attack  is  the  re-action :  I  never  think  I  have  hit  hard 
unless  it  rebounds. 


DR.   JOHNSON.  297 


There  is  nothing  more  likely  to  betray  a  man  into 
absurdity  than  condescension, —when  he  seems  to 
suppose  his  understanding  too  powerful  for  his 
company. 

Sir  John  Millicent  was  asked  how  he  conformed  himself  to  his 
brother  justices :  "  I  have  no  way,"  he  replied,  "  but  to  drink 
myself  down  to  the  capacity  of  the  bench."  So  Serjeant  Wil- 
kins  drank  stout  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  "  to  fuddle  his  brain 
to  the  standard  of  a  British  jury." 

You  may  abuse  a  tragedy,  though  you  cannot  write 
one.  You  may  scold  a  carpenter  who  has  made  you 
a  bad  table,  though  you  cannot  make  a  table  :  it  is 
not  your  trade  to  make  tables. 

When  one  of  his  friends,  who  had  joined  in  a  criticism  of 
Mallet's  "Elvira,"  said  they  had  hardly  a  right,  to  abuse  the 
tragedy,  as  no  one  of  them  could  have  written  it 

Corneille  is  to  Shakespeare  as  a  clipped  hedge  is  to  a 
forest. 

PIOZZI  :  57. 

He  said  of  another  English  poet,  "  A  thousand  years  may 
elapse  before  there  shall  appear  another  man  with  a  power  of 
versification  equal  to  that  of  Pope."  When  Boswell,  on  his 
return  from  France,  told  Johnson  that  Voltaire  distinguished 
Pope  and  Dryden  thus :  "  Pope  drives  a  handsome  chariot,  with 
a  COT  pie  of  neat,  trim  nags  :  Dryden,  a  coach  and  six  stately 
horses  ;  "  Johnson  replied  that  they  both  drove  coaches  and  six  : 
"  Dryden's  horses  are  either  galloping  or  stumbling :  Pope's  go 
at  a  steady  even  trot." 

When  a  lady  spoke  of  the  inferiority  of  Milton's  sonnets  to 
his  other  poems,  Johnson  replied,  "  Milton  was  a  genius  that 
could  cut  a  colossus  from  a  rock,  but  could  not  carve  heads  upon 
cherry-stones."  He  said  to  Miss  Sewell,  of  "  Lycidas,"  "  I  would 
hang  a  dog  that  read  that  poem  twice." 

He  remarked  of  Churchill's  poetry,  "  He  is  a  tree  that  cannot 
produce  good  fruit :  he  only  bears  crabs.  But,  sir,  a  tree  that 
produces  a  great  many  crabs  is  better  than  a  tree  which  produces 
only  a  few." 


298  DR.  JOHNSON. 


-• 


Go  into  the  street,  and  give  one  man  a  lecture  on 
morality,  and  another  a  shilling,  and  see  which  will 
respect  you  the  most. 

Saying  that,  in  civilized  society,  personal  merit  will  not  serve 
one  as  much  as  money  will ;  but  at  another  time  he  said, 
"  Riches  do  not  gain  hearty  respect :  they  only  procure  external 
attention." 

All  the  arguments  which  are  brought  to  represent 
poverty  as  no  evil  show  it  to  be  evidently  a  great 
evil. 

Dufresny,  a  French  dramatist,  when  told  that  poverty  was  no 
crime,  replied,  "It  is  worse."  Sydney  Smith  said,  "  Poverty  is 
no  disgrace  to  a  man,  but  it  is  confoundedly  inconvenient." 

Subordination  tends  greatly  to  human  happiness. 
"Were  we  all  upon  an  equality,  we  should  have  no 
other  enjoyment  than  mere  animal  pleasure. 

When  Bos  well  said  that  if  he  were  asked  to  dine  on  the  same 
day  with  the  first  duke  in  England,  and  with  the  first  man  in 
Britain  for  genius,  he  should  hesitate  which  to  prefer.  Johnson 
replied,  that  if  he  were  to  dine  only  once,  and  it  were  never  to 
be  known  where  he  dined,  Boswell  would  rather  choose  to  dine 
with  the  first  man  for  genius ;  but  to  gain  most  respect  he  should 
dine  with  the  first  duke  in  England.  He  said  that  he  would  no 
more  deprive  a  nobleman  of  his  respect  than  of  his  money,  and 
that  "  I  would  behave  to  a  nobleman  as  I  should  expect  he 
would  behave  to  me,  were  I  a  nobleman,  and  he  Sam.  Johnson." 
He  said  that  Mrs.  Macaulay,  "  a  great  republican,"  never  liked 
him  after  he  proposed  —  to  show  that  he  had  come  over  to  her 
way  of  thinking  all  men  to  be  upon  an  equal  footing — that  her 
footman  should  sit  down  at  table  with  them  :  "  Sir,  your  levellers 
wish  to  level  down  as  far  as  themselves,  but  they  cannot  bear 
levelling  up  to  themselves." 

At  another  time  he  said,  "  We  are  all  agreed  as  to  our  own 
liberty ;  we  would  have  as  much  of  it  as  we  can  get :  but  we  are 
not  agreed  as  to  the  liberty  of  others  ;  for,  in  proportion  as  we 
take,  others  must  lose;  "  and  again:  "I  am  a  friend  to  subordi- 
nation as  most  conducive  to  the  happiness  of  society.  There  is 


DR.    JOHNSON.  299 


1 1 


a  reciprocal  pleasure  in  governing  and  in  being  governed. 
Selden  remarked  during  the  Civil  War,  "  This  is  the  juggling 
trick  of  the  party :  they  would  have  nobody  above  them,  but  they 
do  not  tell  you  they  would  have  nobody  under  them." 

Why,  sir,  Sherry  is  dull,  naturally  dull ;  but  it  must 
have  taken  him  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  become 
what  we  now  see  him.  Such  an  excess  of  stupidity 
is  not  in  nature. 

Of  Thomas  Sheridan,  father  of  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan, 
who  was  an  actor,  teacher  of  elocution,  and  published  a  work  on 
oratory.  "  What  influence,"  Johnson  added,  "  can  Mr.  Sheridan 
have  upon  the  language  of  this  great  country,  by  his  narrow 
exertions?  Sir,  it  is  burning  a  farthing  candle  at  Dover,  to  show 
light  at  Calais." 

Sir,  a  woman's  preaching  is  like  a  dog's  walking  on 
his  hind-legs.  It  is  not  done  well,  but  you  are  sur- 
prised to  find  it  done  at  all. 

When  Boswell  said  he  had  heard  a  woman  preach  "  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  people  called  Quakers." 

I  refute  it  thus. 

Striking  his  foot  with  great  force  against  a  stone,  when  Bos- 
well  said,  though  they  might  be  convinced  that  Berkeley's  theory 
of  the  non-existence  of  matter  was  not  true,  they  could  not  refute 
it.  When  a  gentleman  was  going  away,  who  maintained  Berke- 
ley's idea  that  nothing  exists  but  as  perceived  by  some  mind, 
Johnson  said  to  him,  "Pray,  sir,  don't  leave  us;  for  we  may 
perhaps  forget  to  think  of  you,  and  then  you  will  cease  to  exist." 

"  When  Bishop  Berkeley  said,  '  there  was  no  matter,' 
And  proved  it  —  'twas  no  matter  what  he  said." 

BVKON:  Don  Juan*  XI.  1. 

Sir  John,  sir,  is  a  very  unclubable  man. 

Of  Sir  John  Hawkins,  who  refused  to  pay  his -portion  of  the 
reckoning  for  the  supper  of  the  Literary  Club,  because  he  usually 
ate  no  supper  at  home. 


300  DR.   JOHNSON. 


We  know  our  will  is  free,  and  there's  an  end  on't. 
Declining  to  discuss  the  question  of  fate  and  free-will. 

There  is  no  being  so  poor  and  contemptible,  who  does 
not  think  there  is  somebody  still  poorer  and  still 
more  contemptible. 

"  A  peasant  and  a  philosopher,"  he  said  in  answer  to  Hume, 
"may  be  equally  satisfied,  but  not  equally  happy.  Happiness  con- 
sists in  the  multiplicity  of  agreeable  consciousness.  A  peasant 
has  not  capacity  for  having  equal  happiness  with  a  philosopher." 
Hume  maintained  that  £,11  who  were  happy  were  equally  happy. 
Bos  well  quoted  the  illustration  of  his  friend  at  Utrecht,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Brown  :  "  A  small  drinking-glass  and  a  large  one  may  be 
equally  full,  but  the  large  one  holds  more  than  the  small." 

The  happiness  of  London  is  not  to  be  conceived  but 
by  those  who  have  been  in  it. 

Johnson  asserted  that  "  there  is  more  learning  and  science 
within  the  circumference  of  ten  miles  from  where  we  sit,  than  in 
all  the  rest  of  the  kingdom."  Sydney  Smith  repeated  the  state- 
ment :  "  I  believe  the  parallelogram  between  Oxford  Street,  Pic- 
cadilly, Regent  Street,  and  Hyde  Park,  encloses  more  intelligence 
and  human  celebrity,  to  say  nothing  of  wealth  and  beauty,  than 
the  world  has  ever  collected  in  one  space  before."  At  another 
time  he  said,  "  The  charm  of  London  is,  that  you  are  never  glad 
or  sorry  for  ten  minutes  together :  in  the  country  you  are  one  or 
the  other  for  weeks."  Dr.  Johnson  asserted  in  another  conversa- 
tion upon  the  metropolis  :  "When  a  man  is  tired  of  London  he 
is  tired  of  life ;  for  there  is  in  London  all  that  life  can  afford." 

That  fellow  seems  to  me  to  possess  but  one  idea,  and 
that  is  a  wrong  one. 

Of  a  dull,  tiresome  fellow. 

Being  asked  by  a  young  nobleman  what  was  become  of  the 
gallantry  and  military  spirit  of  the  old  English  nobility,  Johnson 
replied,  "  Why,  my  lord,  I'll  tell  you  what  is  become  of  it :  it  is 
gone  into  the  city  to  look  for  a  fortune/' 

Much  inquiry  having  been  made  concerning  a  gentleman  who 
had  quitted  a  company  wiiere  Johnson  was,  and  no  information 


DR.   JOHNSON.  301 


being  obtained,  the  doctor  at  last  observed  that  he  did  not  care 
to  speak  ill  of  any  one  behind  his  back,  but  he  believed  the 
gentleman  was  an  attorney.  — PIOZZI  :  27:2. 

The  triumph  of  hope  over  experience. 

A  gentleman  who  had  been  very  unhappy  in  marriage  married 
again  immediately  after  his  wife  died :  Johnson  said  it  was  "  the 
triumph  of  hope  over  experience." 

He  observed  that  a  man  of  sense  and  education  should  meet  a 
suitable  companion  in  a  wife.  "  It  was  a  miserable  thing  when 
the  conversation  could  only  be  such  as,  whether  the  mutton 
should  be  boiled  or  roasted,  and  probably  a  dispute  about  that." 
At  another  time  he  said,  "  Suppose  a  wife  to  be  of  a  studious 
or  argumentative  turn,  it  would  be  very  troublesome ;  for  in- 
stance, if  a  woman  should  continually  dwell  upon  the  subject  of 
the  Arian  heresy."  When,  however,  a  gentleman  w7as  afraid  of 
the  superiority  of  talents  of  a  lady  whom  he  admired,  "  Sir,  you 
need  not  be  afraid,"  replied  Johnson :  "  marry  her.  Before  a 
year  goes  about,  you'll  find  that  reason  much  wreaker,  and  that 
wit  not  so  bright." 

"  Marriage,"  he  said,  "  is  the  best  state  for  a  man  in  general ; 
and  every  man  is  a  worse  man  in  proportion  as  he  is  unfit  for 
the  married  state  ;  ':'  but  at  another  time  he  declared,  "  It  is  so 
far  from  being  natural  for  a  man  and  a  woman  to  live  in  a  state 
of  marriage,  that  we  find  all  the  reasons  which  they  have  for 
remaining  in  that  connection,  and  the  restraints  which  civilized 
society  imposes  to  prevent  separation,  are  hardly  sufficient  to 
keep  them  together." 


There  is  no  permanent  national  character:  it  varies 
according  to  circumstances.  Alexander  the  Great 
swept  India :  now  the  Turks  sweep  Greece. 

A  man  should  be  careful  never  to  tell  tales  of  himself 
to  his  own  disadvantage. 

Never  speak  of  a  man  in  his  own  presence.  It  is 
always  indelicate,  and  may  be  offensive. 

Questioning  is  not  the  mode  of  conversation  among 
gentlemen. 


302  DR.   JOHXSOX. 


Of  the  failures  of  life,  Johnson  once  said,  "  It  is  a  most  morti- 
fying reflection  for  a  man  to  consider  what  he  ha*  done,  compared 
with  what  he  might  have  done."  —  BOSWELL,  1770.  Boswell  once 
said  there  was  not  half  a  guinea's  worth  of  pleasure  in  seeing 
the  Pantheon  in  Oxford  Street.  "  But,  sir,"  replied  Johnson, 
"  there's  half  a  guinea's  inferiority  to  other  people  in  not  having 
seen  it." 

Fine  clothes  are  good  only  as  they  supply  the  want 
of  other  means  of  procuring  respect.  Was  Charles 
XII.,  think  you,  less  respected  for  his  coarse  blue 
coat  and  black  stock? 

Every  man  has  a  physical  right  to  think  as  he  pleases, 
for  it  cannot  be  discovered  how  he  thinks.  But,  sir, 
no  member  of  a  society  has  a  right  to  teach  any 
doctrine  contrary  to  what  the  society  holds  to  be 
true. 

A  cow  is  a  very  good  animal  in  the  field,  but  we  turn 
her  out  of  a  garden. 

To  illustrate  his  position,  that  it  was  proper  that  six  Method- 
ists, who  insisted  on  public  praying  and  exhorting,  should  be  ex- 
pelled from  Oxford.  They  might  be  good  beings,  he  admitted ; 
but  they  were  not  fit  to  be  in  the  university  where  they  were 
sent  to  be  taught,  not  to  teach. 

Tacitus,  sir,  seems  to  me  rather  to  have  made  notes 
for  an  historical  work,  than  to  have  written  a  his- 
tory. 

Agreeing  with  Boswell,  that  the  style  of  the  Latin  historian 
was  too  compact,  and  broken  into  hints,  and  therefore  difficult  to 
be  understood.  Frederick  the  Great  said  that  Tacitus  had  "few 
words,  much  sense  "  (peu  de  paroles,  beaucoup  de  sens). 

A  man  is  very  apt  to  complain  of  the  ingratitude  of 
those  who  have  risen  far  above  him. 

Saying  that  when  a  man  gets  into  a  higher  sphere,  or  into 
other  habits  of  life,  he  cannot  keep  up  all  his  former  connections. 
It  was  Napoleon's  opinion  that  "  men  are  not  so  ungrateful  as 


DR.   JOHNSON.  303 


they  are  said  to  be.     If  they  are  often  complained  of,  it  gener- 
ally happens  that  the  benefactor  exacts  more  than  he  has  given." 

"  He  who  surpasses  or  subdues  mankind 
Must  look  down  on  the  hate  of  those  below." 

BYRON:  Childe  Harold,  III.  45. 

The  value  of  statuary  is  owing  to  its  difficulty.  You 
would  not  value  the  finest  head  cut  upon  a  carrot. 

Steele,  I  believe,  practised  the  lighter  vices. 

When  Boswell  mentioned  that  Steele  published  his  "  Christian 
Hero,''  to  oblige  himself  to  lead  a  religious  life,  to  which  his 
conduct  was  hardly  suitable. 

A  man  always  makes  himself  greater  as  he  increases 
his  knowledge. 

When  asked  if  a  man  did  not  lessen  himself  by  his  forward- 
ness even  in  the  pursuit  of  various  information. 

No  man  but  a  blockhead  ever  wrote  except  for  money. 

"  A  strange  opinion,"  as  Boswell  calls  it,  which  he  "  uniformly 
adhered  to."  But  he  also  said,  "  Getting  money  is  not  all  a  man's 
business :  to  cultivate  kindness  is  a  valuable  part  of  the  busi- 
ness of  life." 

He  was  so  generally  civil,  that  nobody  thanked  him 
for  it. 

Of  the  Earl  of  Cork,  who  was  a  genteel  man,  but  did  not  keep 
up  the  dignity  of  his  rank. 

No,  sir,  you  do  not  mean  tardiness  of  locomotion : 
you  mean  that  sluggishness  of  mind  which  comes 
upon  a  man  in  solitude. 

When  Chamier,  a  member  of  the  club,  asked  Goldsmith  if  he 
meant  tardiness  of  locomotion  by  the  word  slow,  in  the  first  line 
of  "The  Traveller,"  —  "  Remote,  unfriended,  melancholy,  slo\v." 
—  Goldsmith  inconsiderately  said  "  Yes."  Johnson  immediately 
supplied  the  idea  which  the  word  should  express,  and  was  there- 
fore erroneously  thought  to  be  the  author  of  the  line. 


304  DR.   JOHNSON. 


Every  man  thinks  meanly  of  himself  for  not  having 
been  a  soldier,  or  not  having  been  at  sea. 

He  said,  contradicting  Boswell,  that  Lord  Mansfield  would 
shrink  in  a  company  of  general  officers  and  admirals  who  had 
been  in  service.  "  Were  Socrates,"  he  added,  "  and  Charles  the 
Twelfth  of  Sweden,  both  present  in  any  company,  and  Socrates 
to  say,  '  Follow  me,  and  hear  a  lecture  in  philosophy,'  and 
Charles,  laying  his  hand  on  his  sword,  to  say,  '  Follow  me,  and 
dethrone  the  Czar,'  a  man  would  be  ashamed  to  follow  Socrates. 
The  profession  of  soldiers  and  sailors  has  the  dignity  of  danger. 
Mankind  reverence  those  who  have  got  over  fear,  which  is  so 
general  a  weakness." 

A  country  governed  by  a  despot  is  an  inverted  cone. 

I  am  willing  to  love  all  mankind  except  an  American. 

An  instance,  Miss  Sewell  suggested,  of  disliking  those  one  has 
most  injured. 

A  man  may  choose  whether  he  will  have  abstemious- 
ness and  knowledge,  or  claret  and  ignorance. 

Johnson's  opinions  varied  according  to  his  practice  at  any  par- 
ticular time.  Commenting,  one  day,  upon  Pope's  line,  — 

"  Man  never  is,  but  always  to  be,  blest,"  — 

he  asserted  that  the  present  was  never  a  happy  state  to  any 
human  being ;  but  that,  as  every  part  of  life  of  which  we  are 
conscious  was  at  some  point  of  time  a  period  yet  to  come,  in 
which  felicity  was  expected,  there  was  some  happiness  produced 
by  hope.  Being  asked  if  he  were  really  of  opinion  that  a  man 
was  not  sometimes  happy  in  the  moment  that  was  present,  he 
answered,  "Never,  but  when  he  is  drunk."  —  BOSWELL,  1775. 

When  a  gentleman  asked  him  if  he  would  not  allow  a  man  to 
drink,  since  it  drove  away  care,  and  made  men  forget  what  was 
disagreeable,  Johnson  churlishly  replied,  "  Yes,  sir,  if  he  sat  next 
you." 

At  another  time  he  said,  "  Drinking  may  be  practised  with 
great  prudence :  a  man  who  exposes  himself  when  he  is  intox- 
icated has  not  the  art  of  getting  drunk."  —  Ibid.,  1779.  He 


DR.   JOHNSON.  305 


said  claret,  which  he  called  "  poor  stuff,"  was  "  the  liquor  for 
boys,  port  for  men ;  but  he  who  aspires  to  be  a  hero  must  drink 
brandy. " 

What  I  gained  by  being  in  France  was  learning  to  be 
better  satisfied  with  my  own  country. 

In  this  loyal  sentiment  Dr.  Johnson  was  anticipated  by  the 
French  poet  De  Belloy  (1727-1775),  who  wrote  in  his  tragedy, 
"  The  Siege  of  Calais,"  "  The  more  I  saw  of  foreign  lands,  the 
more  I  loved  my  own"  (Plus  je  vis  I'etranger,  plus  faimai  ma 
patrie). 

Time,  Johnson  said,  may  be  employed  to  more  advantage, 
from  nineteen  to  twenty-four,  almost  in  any  other  way  than  in 
travelling. 

He  had  a  strong  dislike  of  foreigners,  whom  he  called  fools ; 
he  said  that  once  when  he  had  a  violent  toothache  a  Frenchman 
accosted  him  thus  :  "  Ah,  sir  !  you  study  too  much  "  (vous  etudiez 
trap}.  "  A  Frenchman,"  in  his  opinion,  "  must  be  always  talking, 
whether  he  knows  any  thing  of  the  matter  or  not :  an  English- 
man is  content  to  say  nothing  when  he  has  nothing  to  say." 

What  can  you  expect  from  fellows  that  eat  frogs  ? 

When  told  of  the  poor  success  of  the  French  Dictionary. — 
PIOZZI  :  54. 

His  death  eclipsed  the  gayety  of  nations,  and  impov- 
erished the  public  stock  of  harmless  pleasure^ 

Of  Garrick,  placed  by  his  widow  on  his  monument  ia  Lidi- 
field  Cathedral. 

The  applause  of  a  single  human  being  is  of  great  con- 
sequence. 

When  Boswell  said  he  did  not  like  to  sit  with  people  of  whewai 
he  did  not  have  a  good  opinion,  Johnson  remarked,  "  You  must 
not  indulge  your  delicacy  too  much,  or  you  will  be  a  tete-a-tite 
man  all  your  life." 

"Every  man  has  a  right,"  he  said,  "to  utter  what  he  thinks 
truth,  and  every  other  man  has  a  right  to  knock  him  down,  for 
it.  Martyrdom  is  the  test." 


306  DR.   JOHNSON. 


A  man  has  no  more  right  to  say  an  uncivil  thing  than 
to  act  one  ;  no  more  right  to  say  a  rude  thing  to 
another  than  to  knock  him  down. 

Depend  upon  it,  that,  if  a  man  talks  of  his  misfortunes, 
there  is  something  in  them  that  is  not  disagreeable 
to  him  ;  for  where  there  is  nothing  but  pure  misery, 
there  never  is  any  recourse  to  the  mention  of  it. 

No  man  speaks  concerning  another,  even  supposing  it 
be  in  his  praise,  if  he  thinks  he  does  not  hear  him, 
exactly  as  he  would  if  he  thought  he  was  within 
hearing. 

A  child  should  not  be  discouraged  from  reading  any 
thing  that  he  takes  a  liking  to,  from  a  notion  that 
it  is  above  his  reach.  If  that  be  the  case,  the  child 
will  soon  find  it  out,  and  desist. 

Classical  quotation  is  the  parole  of  literary  men  all 
over  the  world. 

In  opposition  to  Wilkes,  who  censured  it  as  pedantry.  —  BOS- 
WELL,  1781. 

Being  asked,  during  the  sale  of  his  friend  Thrale's  brewery, 
what  he  considered  to  be  the  value  of  the  property,  Johnson  re- 
plied, "We  are  not  here  to  sell  a  parcel  of  boilers  and  vats,  but 
the  potentiality  of  growing  rich  beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice." 

Mr.  Windham  had  been  appointed  secretary  to  the  lord  lieu- 
tenant of  Ireland,  and  doubted  whether  he  could  bring  himself 
to  practise  those  acts  which  were  supposed  necessary  to  a  person 
in  that  position  :  "  Don't  be  afraid,  sir,"  replied  Johnson  :  "  you 
will  soon  make  a  very  pretty  rascal." 

"  A  man,"  he  said,  "  who  spends  ten  thousand  a  year  will  do 
more  good  than  a  man  who  spends  two  thousand  and  gives  away 
eight." 

A  man  might  write  such  stuff  forever,  if  he  would 
abandon  his  mind  to  it. 

Of  Ossian's  poems.  When  asked,  at  another  time,  if  any 
man  of  modern  times  could  have  written  the  pieces  published 
as  Ossian's  poems,  he  replied,  "  Yes,  sir  :  many  men,  many 
women,  and  many  children." 


DR.   JOHNSON.  307 


A  man  should  pass  a  part  of  his  time  with  the  laugh- 
ers. 

Meaning  that  thereby  any  thing  ridiculous  or  particular  about 
him  might  be  presented  to  his  view,  and  corrected.  Bos  well's 
comment  was,  that  he  must  be  a  bold  laugher  who  would  have 
ventured  to  tell  Dr.  Johnson  of  any  of  his  peculiarities. 

Dr.  Johnson  alluded  to  a  characteristic  of  his  countrymen 
when  he  said,  "  Two  men  of  any  other  nation  who  are  thrown 
into  a  room  together,  at  a  house  where  they  are  both  visitors, 
will  immediately  find  some  conversation.  But  two  Englishmen 
will  probably  go  each  to  a  different  window,  and  remain  in 
obstinate  silence.  Sir,  we  as  yet  do  not  enough  understand  the 
common  rights  of  humanity." 

Of  conversation  he  once  remarked,  "  There  is  nothing  by  which 
a  man  exasperates  most  people  more  than  by  displaying  a  supe- 
rior ability  or  brilliancy  in  conversation.  They  seem  pleased  at 
the  time,  but  their  envy  makes  them  curse  him  at  their  hearts." 
He  said  of  Wedderburn,  that  he  never  heard  any  thing  from  him 
in  conversation  at  all  striking;  "and  depend  upon  it,  sir,  it  is 
when  you  come  close  to  a  man  in  conversation,  that  you  discover 
what  his  real  abilities  are  :  to  make  a  speech  in  a  public  assem- 
bly is  a  knack." 

When  a  tragedy  was  read  in  his  presence,  in  which  there 
occurred  this  line,  "Who  rules  o'er  freemen  should  himself  be 
free,"  Johnson  thought  it  no  more  true  than  that  "who  drives 
fat  oxen  should  himself  be  fat."  —  BOSWELL,  17S4. 

After  a  lady  had  played  with  great  facility  a  sonata  on  the 
piano  in  the  doctor's  presence,  she  asked  him  if  he  did  not  like 
music.  "No,  madam,"  he  replied;  "but  of  all  noise  it  is  the 
most  tolerable ; "  but  he  also  said,  "  Music  is  the  only  sensual 
pleasure  without  vice." 

He  was  asked  by  the  master  of  a  country-house  where  he  was 
visiting,  during  a  walk  in  the  garden,  if  he  were  a  botanist ;  to 
which  he  replied,  "No,  sir,  I  am  not  a  botanist;  and,  should  I 
wish  to  become  a  botanist,  I  must  first "  —  alluding  to  his  near- 
sightedness,  "turn  myself  into  a  reptile." 

"Mankind,"  he  once  said,  "have  a  great  aversion  to  intel- 
lectual labor ;  but,  even  supposing  knowledge  to  be  easily  attain- 


308  DR.   JOHNSON. 


able,  more  people  would  be  content  to  be  ignorant  than  would 
even  take  a  little  trouble  to  acquire  it."  At  another  time,  how- 
ever, he  declared  a  desire  for  knowledge  to  be  the  natural  feeling 
of  mankind  ;  "  and  every  human  being  whose  mind  is  not  de- 
bauched will  be  willing  to  give  all  he  has  to  get  knowledge." 

The  human  mind  is  so  limited  that  it  cannot  take 
in  all  the  parts  of  a  subject,  so  that  there  may  be 
objections  raised  against  every  thing. 

"While  you  are  considering,"  he  once  remarked,  "which  of 
two  things  you  should  teach  your  child  first,  another  boy  has 
learnt  them  both." 

He  said  of  youthful  society,  "  I  love  the  acquaintance  of  young 
people:  because,  in  the  first  place,  I  don't  like  to  think  of  my- 
self as  growing  old ;  in  the  next  place,  young  acquaintance  last 
longest,  if  they  do  last  :  and  then,  sir,  young  men  have  more 
virtue  than  old  men,  —  they  have  more  generous  sentiments  in 
every  respect." 

Political  liberty  is  good  only  so  far  as  it  produces 
private  liberty. 

It  matters  not  how  a  man  dies,  but  how  he  lives. 

"  To  find  a  substitute  for  violated  morality,"  he  said,  "  is  the 
leading  feature  of  all  perversions  of  religion." 

A  decent  provision  for  the  poor  is  the  true  test  of 
civilization. 

Pew  have  all  kinds  of  merit  belonging  to  their  charac- 
ter. A  fallible  being  will  fail  somewhere. 

Read  over  your  compositions,  and  wherever  you  meet 
with  a  passage  which  you  think  is  particularly  fine, 
strike  it  out. 

Quoting  the  remark  of  a  college  tutor. 

As  a  man  advances  in  life,  he  gets  what  is  better  than 
admiration,  —  judgment,  to  estimate  things  at  their 
true  value. 


DR.   JOHNSON.  309 


If  I  had  no  duties,  and  no  reference  to  futurity,  I  would 
spend  my  life  in  driving  briskly  in  a  post-chaise  with 
a  pretty  woman ;  but  she  should  be  one  who  could 
understand  me,  and  would  add  something  to  the 
conversation. 

My  dear  friend,  clear  your  mind  of  cant. 

Telling  Boswell  that  he  might  use  the  meaningless  conven- 
tionalities of  society,  but  that  he  ought  not  to  think  foolishly. 

Description  only  excites  curiosity :  seeing  satisfies  it. 
"Painting,"  he  said,  "can  illustrate,  but  it  cannot  inform." 

A  man  who  has  never  had  religion  before  no  more 
grows  religious  when  he  is  sick,  than  a  man  who 
has  never  learnt  figures  can  count  when  he  has  need 
of  calculation. 

As  I  know  more  of  mankind,  I  expect  less  of  them,  and 
am  ready  now  to  call  a  man  a  good  man  upon  easier 
terms  than  I  was  formerly. 

He  said  of  infidel  writers,  "  They  drop  into  oblivion  \vhen 
personal  connections  and  the  floridness  of  novelty  are  gone." 

Of  faith  and  practice,  "  A  man  may  be  very  sincere  in  good 
principles,  without  having  good  practice." 


There  is  something  noble  in  publishing  truth,  though 
it  condemns  one's  self. 

No  one  ever  laid  down  the  book  of  Robinson  Crusoe 
without  wishing  it  longer. 

Gratitude  is  a  fruit  of  great  cultivation.  You  do  not 
find  it  among  gross  people. 

Every  man  who  comes  into  the  world  has  need  of 
friends.  Relations  are  a  man's  ready  friends,  who 
support  him. 

I  never  knew  a  man  of  merit  neglected :  it  was  gener- 
ally by  his  own  fault  that  he  failed  of  success. 


g 


10  DR.   JOHXSOK 


Adventitious  accomplishments  may  be  possessed  by 
all  ranks,  but  one  may  easily  distinguish  the  bora 
gentleman. 

The  law  is  the  last  result  of  human  wisdom  acting  on 
human  experience  for  the  good  of  the  public. 

I  doubt  if  there  ever  was  a  man  who  was  not  gratified 
by  being  told  that  he  was  liked  by  the  women. 

When  asked  what  love  was,  he  replied,  "  It  is  the  wisdom  of 
the  fool,  and  the  folly  of  the  wise." 

The  man  who  cannot  get  to  heaven  in  a  green  coat 
will  not  find  his  way  thither  the  sooner  in  a  gray  one. 

Of  distinctions  in  dress.  —  PIOZZI,  110.  When  a  physician 
thought  that  Johnson  must  have  noticed  him  by  the  fine  coat 
he  wore,  the  philosopher  replied,  "  If  you  had  been  dipped  in 
Pactolus,  I  should  not  have  noticed  you." 

Women  give  great  offence  by  a  contemptuous  spirit 
of  non-compliance  on  petty  occasions. 

They  sting  me,  but  as  a  fly  stings  a  horse ;  and  the 
eagle  will  not  catch  flies. 

Of  newspaper  abuse.  —  Ibid.,  185. 

I  think  it  would,  madam  — for  a  toad. 

When  a  lady  showed  him  a  grotto  she  had  been  making,  and 
asked  him  if  it  would  not  be  a  cool  habitation  in  summer. 

"What  is  nearest  touches  us  most.  The  passions  rise 
higher  at  domestic  than  at  imperial  tragedies. 

Letter  to  Mrs.  Thrale. 

When  any  calamity  is  suffered,  the  first  thing  to  be 
remembered  is,  how  much  has  been  escaped. 

In  a  letter.  "  Grief,"  he  added,  "is  a  species  of  idleness;  and 
the  necessity  of  attention  to  the  present  preserves  us,  by  the 
merciful  disposition  of  Providence,  from  being  lacerated  and 
devoured  by  sorrow  for  the  past."  But  at  another  time  he  said 
what  is  equally  true  :  "  While  grief  is  fresh,  any  attempt  to  divert 
it  only  irritates." 


DR.   JOHNSON.  311 


The  difference  between  praise  and  flattery  is  the  same 
as  between  that  hospitality  that  sets  wine  enough 
before  the  guest,  and  that  which  forces  him  to  be 
drunk. 

Principles  can  only  be  strong  by  the  strength  of  the 
understanding,  or  the  cogency  of  religion. 

Most  men  have  their  bright  and  cloudy  days :  at  least, 
they  have  days  when  they  put  their  powers  into 
act,  and  days  when  they  suffer  them  to  repose. 

The  desire  of  fame,  not  regulated,  is  as  dangerous  to 
virtue  as  that  of  money. 

Dictionaries  are  like  watches :  the  worst  is  better  than 
none,  and  the  best  cannot  be  expected  to  go  quite 
true. 

Those  who  have  loved  longest  love  best. 

"A  friend,"  he  said,  "may  be  often  found  and  lost ;  but  an 
old  friend  can  never  be  found,  and  nature  has  provided  that  he 
cannot  easily  be  lost." 

The  use  of  travelling  is  to  regulate  imagination  by 
reality,  and,  instead  of  thinking  how  things  may  be, 
to  see  them  as  they  are. 

Chronology  is  the  eye  of  history. 

Where  secrecy  or  mystery  begins,  vice  or  roguery  is 
not  far  off. 

Round  numbers  are  always  false. 

Put  your  tragedy  where  your  irons  are. 

When  Miss  Brooke,  author  of  "  The  Siege  of  Sinope,"  said  she 
had  too  many  irons  in  the  fire  to  read  her  play  over  carefully 
again.  "  The  Nain  Jaune,"  a  collection  of  French  bons  mots, 
contains  a  similar  anecdote  :  "  A  gentleman,  who  had  the  unfor- 
tunate talent  of  throwing  once  a  month  a  volume  to  the  public, 
asked  a  friend  to  speak  frankly  of  one  he  was  threatening  to 
bring  out :  *  If  that  is  worth  nothing,  I  have  other  irons  in  the 
fire.'  — '  In  that  case,' replied  his  friend,  'I  advise  you  to  put 


312  DR.   JOHNSON. 


your  work  where  you  have  put  your  irons  (Dans  ce  cas  je  vous 
conseille  de  mettre  votre  manuscrit  oil  vous  avez  mis  vosfers)." 

All  pleasure  preconceived  and  preconcerted  ends  in 
disappointment. 

"  That  disappointment,"  he  added,  "which  involved  neither 
shame  nor  loss,  is  as  good  as  success ;  for  it  supplies  as  many 
images  to  the  mind,  and  as  many  topics  for  the  tongue." 

There  is  now  less  flogging  in  our  schools  than  formerly, 
but  then  less  is  learned  there ;  so  that  what  the  boys 
get  at  one  end  they  lose  at  the  other. 

If  he  had  two  ideas  in  his  head,  they  would  fall  out 
with  each  other. 

Of  a  quarrelsome  fellow. 

Let  it  persevere  in  its  present  plan,  and  it  will  become 
rich  by  degrees. 

Of  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  which  was  poor,  but  lavish 
of  degrees. 

You  see,  madam,  wherever  you  go,  how  hard  it  is  to 
find  seats. 

When  Mrs.  Siddons  called  upon  him,  and  the  servant  could 
not  immediately  bring  her  a  chair. 

I  have  found  you  an  argument,  but  I  am  not  obliged 
to  find  you  an  understanding. 

When  a  pertinacious  gentleman,  with  whom  Johnson  had  been 
talking,  said,  "  I  don't  understand  you,  sir." 

No  man  is  a  hypocrite  in  his  pleasures. 

To  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  who  observed  that  "the  real  character 
of  a  man  is  found  out  by  his  amusements." 

One  link  cannot  clank. 

Of  one  of  Grattan's  expressions  :  "  We  will  persevere  till  there 
is  not  one  link  of  the  English  chain  left  to  clank  upon  the  rags 


of  the  meanest  beggar  in  Ireland.' 


DR.   JOHNSON.  313 


The  difference  between  a  well-bred  and  an  ill-bred  man,  said 
Johnson,  is,  that  "one  immediately  attracts  your  liking,  the  other 
your  aversion.  You  love  the  one  till  you  find  reason  to  hate 
him :  you  hate  the  other  till  you  find  reason  to  love  him." 

Having  said  of  the  comedy  of  "  The  Rehearsal,"  "  It  has  not 
wit  enough  to  keep  it  sweet,"  he  caught  himself,  and  pronounced 
a  more  round  sentence:  "It  has  not  vitality  enough  to  preserve  it 
from  putrefaction." 

A  gentleman  having  said  that  a  conge  d'e  lire  (the  appointment 
of  a  bishop)  had  not,  perhaps,  the  force  of  a  command,  but 
might  be  considered  only  as  a  strong  recommendation,  Johnson 
replied  :  "  It  is  such  a  recommendation  as  if  I  should  throw  you 
out  of  a  two-pair-of-stairs'  window,  and  recommend  you  to  fall 
soft."' 


God  bless  you,  my  dear ! 

His  last  words,  to  Miss  Morris,  a  friend's  daughter,  who  asked 
his  blessing. 

Goldsmith  said  of  Johnson,  "He  has  nothing  of  the  bear  but 
his  skin."  The  Earl  of  Eglintoune  regretted  that  Johnson  had 
not  been  educated  amid  more  refinement,  and  had  lived  more  in 
polished  society.  "  No,  no,  my  lord,"  replied  Baretti,  an  Italian 
scholar  living  in  London :  "  do  with  him  what  you  would,  he 
would  always  have  been  a  bear."  —  "True,"  answered  the  earl 
with  a  smile,  "but  he  would  have  been  a  dancing-bear.''  On 
the  grant  of  a  pension  to  Dr.  Johnson  and  Dr.  Shebbeare,  a  con- 
temporary physician  and  political  writer,  it  was  remarked  that 
the  king  had  pensioned  a  He-bear  and  a  She-bear.  —  BOSWELL  : 
Life  of  Johnson,  1768.  Lord  Pembroke  said  that  Johnson's  say- 
ings would  not  appear  so  extraordinary,  "  were  it  not  for  his 
bow-wow  way."  —  Ibid.,  1775.  Goldsmith  himself  once  said  to 
the  lexicographer,  "  If  you  were  to  make  little  fishes  talk,  they 
would  talk  like  whales."  —  Ibid.,  1773. 

Goldsmith  was  thought  to  be  not  without  a  petty  jealousy  of 
Johnson.  Thus,  when  Boswell  was  talking  of  the  latter  as  en- 
titled to  the  honor  of  unquestionable  superiority  in  the  club, 
Goldsmith  objected,  "  You  are  for  making  a  monarchy  of  what 
should  be  a  republic."  At  another  time  he  used  a  line  of  a  play 
of  Colley  Gibber,  "  There  is  no  arguing  with  Johnson;  for,  if  his 


314  PAUL  JONES. 


pistol  misses  fire,  he  knocks  you  down  with  the  butt-end  of  it." 
When  asked  who  was  the  Scotch  cur  who  followed  at  Johnson's 
heels,  meaning  Bos  well,  Goldsmith  replied,  "  He  is  not  a  cur: 
you  are  too  severe ;  he  is  only  a  burr ;  Tom  Davies  flung  him  at 
Johnson  in  sport,  and  he  has  the  faculty  of  sticking." 

PAUL  JONES. 

[A  famous  naval  commander;  born  in  Scotland,  1747;  emigrated  to 
Virginia;  entered  the  colonial  naval  service,  and  sailed  for  England, 
1777;  burnt  shipping  at  Whitehaven;  commanded  the  "  Bouhomme 
Richard,"  1779,  and  destroyed  many  British  vessels,  capturing  the 
"Serapis;"  entered  the  Russian  service,  1788,  but  was  dismissed 
from  his  command  after  a  quarrel  with  an  admiral;  died  in  Paris, 
1792.] 

I  have  not  yet  begun  to  fight. 

When  asked  by  the  captain  of  the  "  Serapis,"  during  a  lull  in 
the  battle,  if  he  had  struck  his  colors.  On  hearing  that  the  de- 
feated captain  had  been  knighted  after  the  engagement,  Jones 
said,  "  If  I  fall  in  with  him  again,  I  will  make  a  lord  of  him." 

JOSEPH  II. 

[Emperor  of  Germany;  son  of  Maria  Theresa;  born  in  Vienna, 
1741;  emperor,  1765;  divided  Poland  with  Prussia  and  Russia;  united 
with  Catherine  II.  in  a  war  against  Turkey;  introduced  many  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  reforms,  often  prematurely;  abolished  feudal  serf- 
dom, allowed  liberty  of  conscience,  limited  the  authority  of  the  Pope 
and  clergy,  suppressed  convents,  and  encouraged  peaceful  arts,  but 
encountered  insurrections  in  Belgium  and  Hungary;  died  February, 
1790.] 

I  am  a  royalist  by  trade. 

At  an  evening  party  where  Jefferson,  the  American  minister, 
was  playing  chess  with  the  old  Duchesse  de  Bourbon,  and  Joseph 
II.,  then  in  Paris  incognito  under  the  title  of  Count  Falkenstein, 
was  looking  on,  the  duchess  said,  "How  happens  it,  M.  le  Comte, 
that  while  we  all  feel  so  much  interest  in  the  cause  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, you  say  nothing  for  them  ?  "  to  which  he  replied,  "  C'est 
mon  metier  d'etre  royaliste ,  "  "  most  unexpected  from  a  philosophe" 
adds  Carlyle.  It  is  well  known  that  Joseph  advised  his  brother- 
in-law,  Louis  XVI.,  not  to  help  the  Colonies. 


JOSEPH   II.  315 


Franklin  received  very  much  the  same  answer  from  Frederick 
the  Great,  in  requesting  assistance  for  his  countrymen.  "Tell 
me,  doctor,"  said  the  king,  "how  you  would  employ  that  assist- 
ance." -"  In  conquering  liberty,  the  natural  privilege  of  man," 
was  the  answer.  Frederick,  after  a  moment's  reflection,  made 
this  reply :  "  Born  of  a  royal  family,  and  become  king,  I  will  not 
employ  my  power  to  spoil  the  trade  [a  yaler  le  metier~\  :  I  was 
born  to  command,  and  the  people  to  obey  "  (je  suis  ne  pour  com- 
mander, et  le  peuple  pour  obeir). 

Marie  Antoinette,  however,  said  to  Lafayette,  on  his  return 
from  America,  in  1779,  "  Tell  us  good  news  of  our  dear  republi- 
cans, of  our  beloved  Americans  ! '' 

When  Victor  Emmanuel  was  asked  how  he  could  attend  to 
affairs  of  state  after  the  death  of  his  mother  and  brother,  in  1855, 
he  replied,  "It  is  my  trade  to  be  king  "  (je  suis  roi,  c'esl  mon 
metier). 

Joseph  II.  was  fond  of  travelling  through  his  dominions  incog- 
nito. On  some  such  occasion  he  volunteered  to  stand  as  god- 
father at  a  christening  in  a  village  church.  The  priest  asked 
the  usual  questions:  Your  name?  "Joseph."  Surname?  "The 
Second."  Occupation  ?  "  Kaiser !  " 

Beauty  is  always  queen  (la  beaute  est  toujows  reine). 

Offering  his  arm  at  Versailles  to  Mme.  Dubarry,  the  mistress 
of  the  late  king,  Louis  XV.,  when  she  demurred  at  the  honor. 

When  asked  if  the  bells  of  Vienna  might  not  be  rung  on  the 
entry  of  the  Pope,  the  emperor  replied,  "  Why  not  ?  bells  are 
the  cannon  of  the  clergy! '' 

When  his  attendants  hesitated  at  showing  him  in  Venice  a 
picture  by  Zuccaro,  representing  his  predecessor,  Frederick  I., 
doing  penance  after  excommunication  at  the  feet  of  Pope  Alex- 
ander III.,  in  1177,  Joseph  good-naturedly  exclaimed,  "  Tempi 
patsati!"  (That's  ancient  history  !) 

He  remarked  during  a  journey  through  Silesia,  most  of  which 
had  been  taken  from  his  mother,  Maria  Theresa,  by  Frederick 
the  Great,  "I  see  that  Prussia  has  the  garden,  and  I  the  hedge ! " 

Joseph  II.  attended  the  foundation,  by  Catherine  II.  of  Russia, 
of  a  new  city,  Ekaterinaslof,  which  was  never  built  further. 
He  remarked  after  the  ceremony,  "  The  empress  and  I  have  this 


316  JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE. 

day  achieved  a  great  work :  she  has  laid  the  first  stone  of  a  great 
citv,  and  I  have  laid  the  last."     What  he  called  Catherine  was 

«,    * 

true  of  himself :  "  A  sovereign  who  begins  every  thing,  and  ends 
nothing." 

JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE. 

[Julianus  Flavius  Claudius;  Roman  emperor,  known  to  history  as 
"  Julian  the  Apostate;  "  a  nephew  of  Constantine  the  Great;  born  in 
Constantinople,  A.D.  331;  educated  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion,  but  embraced  the  philosophy  of  the  Platonists;  became  em- 
peror, 361;  renounced  Christianity,  proclaiming  religious  liberty  to 
all;  invaded  Persia,  363,  and  gained  several  victories  beyond  the 
Tigris,  until  he  was  wounded  by  a  javelin,  and  died  the  next  day, 
June,  363.] 

O  Plato,  Plato,  what  a  task  for  a  philosopher! 

When  awkwardly  repeating  some  military  exercise,  after  being 
appointed  to  the  command  of  the  provinces  of  Gaul,  for  which 
his  scholastic  training  had  not  fitted  him.  —  GIBBON  :  Decline 
and  Fall,  chap.  xiv. 

When,  after  his  accession  to  power,  his  army  demanded  a 
donation  of  silver,  he  assured  them,  "  Such  has  been  the  temper 
of  my  reign,  that  I  can  retire  without  regret  and  without  appre- 
hension to  the  obscurity  of  a  private  station." 

He  took  for  his  arms  an  eagle  struck  through  the  heart  with 
his  own  feathers  (propriis  configimur  alls}. 

"  So  the  struck  eagle,  stretched  upon  the  plain, 
No  more  through  rolling  clouds  to  soar  again, 
Viewed  his  own  feather  on  the  fatal  dart, 
And  winged  the  shaft  that  quivered  in  his  heart." 

BYRON:  English  Bards  and  Scotch  Reviewers. 

Voltaire  quoted  a  saying  of  Julian,  in  a  letter  to  Frederick, 
Crown  Prince  of  Prussia,  Aug.  26,  1736 :  "  Friends  should  be  pre- 
ferred to  kings." 

The  celebrated  exclamation  of  the  stricken  emperor,  "  Thou 
hast  conquered,  Galilsean  i "  (Vicisti,  Galilcee .')  is  dismissed  by 
French  and  German  scholars.  Gibbon,  after  quoting  the  philo- 
sophic discourse  Julian  held  with  his  friends  during  his  last 
hours,  in  which  the  dying  emperor  re-affirmed  his  belief  in  the 


JULIUS  II.  317 


doctrine  of  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  that  his  soul  would  shortly  be 
united  with  the  divine  ethereal  substance  of  the  universe,  re- 
marks that  "  the  calumnies  of  Gregory  [Nazianzen]  and  the 
legends  of  more  recent  saints  may  now  be  silently  despised " 
(chap,  xxiii.). 

The  Emperor  Justinian  (A.  D.  483-565)  exclaimed,  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  cathedral  of  St.  Sophia,  built  on  the  plan  of  the 
Temple  of  Jerusalem,  "  I  have  vanquished  thee,  O  Solomon!  " 

JULIUS   II. 

[Giuliano  della  Rovere;  born  1441;  elected  pope,  1503;  founded 
the  league  of  Cambrai  with  the  King  of  France,  the  Emperor  of  Ger- 
many, and  the  Duke  of  Ferrara,  against  the  Venetian  Republic,  with 
the  latter  of  which,  however,  lie  soon  allied  himself  to  expel  the 
French  from  Italy;  began  the  rebuilding  of  St.  Peter's;  patronized 
Michael  Angelo  and  Raphael;  died  1513.] 

A  sword,  rather  :  I  was  never  given  to  letters. 

When  asked  by  Michael  Angelo  if  he  should  place  a  book  in 
the  hand  of  the  Pope's  statue  ;  for  the  monument  of  whom,  how- 
ever, only  the  figure  representing  Moses,  now  in  the  church  of 
San  Pietro  in  Vincula,  was  finished. 

JUNOT. 

[Andoche  Junot,  Due  d'Abrantes,  a  French  general;  born  1771; 
enlisting  as  a  common  soldier,  was  made  by  Bonaparte  his  first  aide- 
de-camp  at  Toulon;  gained  distinction  in  Egypt;  governor  of  Paris 
after  the  fall  of  the  Directory;  took  Lisbon,  1807,  but  defeated  at 
Vimiera,  for  which  he  was  disgraced,  and  retired  to  private  life; 
died  July,  1813.] 

Good  !    I  need  no  sand  ! 

When  a  bursting  shell  threw  some  dirt  upon  a  paper  on 
which  he  was  writing  a  despatch  from  Bonaparte's  dictation,  at 
the  siege  of  Toulon,  December,  1793.  It  was  this  display  of 
coolness  which  attracted  Bonaparte's  attention  to  him. 

When,  at  a  later  period,  after  the  formation  of  Napoleon's 
court,  a  nobleman  inquired  of  Junot  as  to  his  ancestry,  he  re- 
plied, "  I  know  nothing  about  it :  I  am  my  own  ancestor  "  (Ah, 


318  LORD  KAMES. 


ma  foi,  je  n'en  sals  rien  :  moi,  je  suis  mon  ancetre).  So  Napoleon 
replied  to  the  Emperor  of  Austria,  who  would  have  traced  his 
lineage  to  some  petty  prince  of  Treviso,  "  I  am  my  own  Rudolf 
of  Hapsburg  ;  "  and  he  silenced,  on  a  similar  occasion,  a  profes- 
sional genealogist  with,  "  Friend,  my  patent  dates  from  Monte- 
notte,"  his  first  battle. 

In  a  letter  to  his  father,  in  1794,  Junot  said  of  Bonaparte,  "  He 
is  one  of  those  of  whom  Nature  is  sparing,  and  whom  she  does 
not  throw  upon  the  earth  but  with  centuries  between  them." 

LOUD   KAMES. 

[Henry  Home,  a  Scotch  judge;  born  at  Kames,  1096;  appointed 
judge  of  the  court  of  sessions,  1752;  a  lord  of  justiciary,  1763;  died 
1782.] 

Tickle  him  yourself,  Harry  :  you  are  as  able  to  do  it 
as  I  am. 

Interrupting,  amid  general  laughter,  the  beginning  of  Ers- 
kine's  speech  for  one  Tickle :  "  Tickle,  my  client,  the  defendant, 
my  lord." 

When  Gilbert  Eliot  expressed  sorrow  at  his  ignorance  of  a 
particular  branch  of  political  economy,  and  asked  Lord  Kames 
how  he  might  overcome  it,  the  latter  replied,  "  Shall  I  tell  you, 
my  friend,  how  you  will  come  to  understand  it?  Go  and  write 
a  book  upon  it."  The  remark  has  been  attributed  to  Pothier, 
the  French  jurist.  It  may  have  been  Lord  Kames's  method 
with  his  most  important  wrork,  "  The  Elements  of  Criticism," 
of  which  Goldsmith  said,  "  It  is  easier  to  write  that  book  than 
to  read  it."  —  BOSWELL  :  Johnson,  1769. 

ALPHONSE   KARR. 

[A  popular  French  novelist ;  born  at  Munich,  1808  ;  published 
"  Sous  les  Tilleuls,"  and  other  works  of  fancy,  after  1832;  editor 
of  "Figaro,"  1837.] 

Let  the  assassins  begin  !   (Que  messieurs  les  assassins  com- 
mencent  !) 

His  answer  to  the  proposal  to  abolish  capital  punishment  in 
France. 


JOHN  KEATS.  319 


JOHN  KEATS. 

[An  English  poet;  born  in  London,  1795  or  1790;  published  his  first 
poems,  1817,  "  Endymion  "  being  severely  criticised  by  "  The  Quar- 
terly Review;  "  died  at  Rome,  1821.] 

Here  lies  one  whose  name  was  writ  in  water. 

The  epitaph  dictated  by  himself  for  his  monument  in  the 
Protestant  cemetery  in  Rome. 

"  Men's  evil  manners  live  in  brass;  their  virtues 
We  write  in  water." 

Henry  VIII.,  IV.  2. 

SIR    GODFREY  KNELLER. 

[A  celebrated  portrait-painter;  born  at  Liibec,  1648;  after  studying 
with  Rembrandt  and  in  Italy,  became  court  painter  to  Charles  II. 
and  other  English  sovereigns;  died  about  1723.] 

Dost  thou  think,  man,  I  can  make  thy  son  a  painter  ? 
No  !  only  God  Almighty  makes  painters ! 

Declining  to  take  his  tailor's  son  as  his  pupil. 

JEAN  BAPTISTE   LACORDAIRE. 

[An  eloquent  French  preacher  ;  born  in  the  Cote  d'Or,  1802  ; 
renounced  law  for  the  Church,  1823;  attracted  great  attention  as  a 
preacher  at  Notre  Dame,  1835  ;  became  a  Dominican  friar,  1840  ; 
member  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  of  the  French  Academy; 
died  November,  1801.] 
' 

Religion  without  authority  is  but  a  philosophy. 

He  was  converted  from  Voltairean  views  by  reading  the  "  Essay 
on  Indifference,"  by  Lamennais,  who  founded,  with  Montalembert 
and  Lacordaire,  the  liberal  newspaper  "  L'Avenir,"  and  said  of 
the  papacy,  to  the  former  of  his  associates,  "  That  voice  which 
formerly  shook  the  world  would  not  to-day  move  schoolboys ;  " 
and,  shortly  before  his  death,  "There  is  nothing  fruitful  except 
sacrifice." 

After  his  conversion,  Lacordaire  wrote  in  a  letter :  "  Once  a 
Christian,  the  world  did  not  vanish  from  my  eyes  :  it  grew 
larger,  as  I  myself  did." 


320  LACORDAIRE. 


An  advocate  had  spoken  of  priests  as  "  the  ministers  of  a 
foreign  power,"  referring  to  Rome,  when  Lacordaire  interrupted 
him :  "  We  are  the  ministers  of  One  who  is  in  no  place  a  for- 
eigner,—  the  ministers  of  God." 

Nothing  is  achieved  without  solitude. 

Dr.  Johnson,  who  loved  Fleet  Street,  as  have  others  "the 
sweet,  shady  side  of  Pall  Mall,"  said,  "  Xo  wise  man  will  go  to 
live  in  the  country  unless  he  has  something  to  do  which  can  be 
better  done  in  the  country."  Walking  one  evening  in  Green- 
wich Park,  he  asked  if  it  were  not  very  fine;  to  which  Boswell, 
with  excellent  tact,  replied,  "Yes,  sir;  but  not  equal  to  Fleet 
Street; "  which  called  forth,  "You  are  right,  sir,"  from  the  phi- 
losopher.—  Life,  1763.  Johnson  made  the  sweeping  assertion, 
in  1784:  "They  who  are  content  to  live  in  the  country  are  fit 
for  the  country ;  '*  and  gave  on  another  occasion  a  reason  for 
his  position  :  "Solitude  is  dangerous  to  reason,  without  being 
favorable  to  virtue."  Goethe  said  to  Eckermann,  "One  can  be 
instructed  in  society,  one  is  inspired  only  in  solitude ;  "  to  which 
another  remark  of  Lacordaire's  may  be  compared  :  "  Man  forms 
himself  in  his  own  interior,  and  nowhere  else." 

Youth  is  life's  beautiful  moment. 

Every  true  genius  has  been  a  disciple  before  being  a 
creator. 

The  great  men  of  antiquity  were  poor. 

He  told  some  students,  whose  beds  he  found  provided  with 
eider-down  coverlets,  that,  when  he  felt  cold  during  his  college 
nights  at  Dijon,  he  used  to  put  his  portmanteau  on  the  bed. 
"A  great  heart  in  a  little  house,"  he  once  said,  "is,  of  all  things 
here  below,  that  which  has  ever  touched  me  most." 

By  the  grace  of  God,  I  have  a  horror  of  what  is  com- 
monplace in  the  pulpit. 

Of  which  his  friend  Montalembert  remarked,  "  He  was  never 
more  mistaken  in  his  life,  but  it  demands  no  ordinary  genius  to 
bewitch  the  world  with  commonplace." 

"Literature,"  Lacordaire  once  said,  "demands,  according  to 


LA  FONTAINE.  321 


the  expression  of  the  ancients,  a,cultus ;  and,  as  we  speak  of  the 
religion  of  honor,  we  may  also  speak  of  the  religion  of  letters." 

Love  is  the  beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of  every 
thing. 

"  We  are  all  born  for  love,"  says  Disraeli :  "  it  is  the  prin- 
ciple of  existence,  and  its  only  end."  —  Sibyl. 

"  All  thoughts,  all  passions,  all  delights, 

Whatever  stirs  this  mortal  frame, 
All  are  but  ministers  of  Love, 

And  feed  his  sacred  flame." 

COLERIDGE:  Love. 

My  God,  open  to  me ! 

His  last  words,  Nov.  22,  1861.  A  short  time  before  his  death, 
he  declared  to  a  Catholic  deputation,  \vhich  congratulated  him 
on  his  election  to  the  Academy :  "  I  shall  die  a  penitent  Cath- 
olic and  an  impenitent  Liberal." 

JEAN  LA   FONTAINE. 

[The  French  fabulist;  born  at  Chateau-Thierry,  July  8,  1621; 
came  to  Paris  under  the  patronage  of  the  Duchesse  de  Bouillon, 
and  received  a  pension  from  Fouquet;  published  his  first  tales>  1664; 
six  books  of  Fables,  1668;  the  last  six,  1678;  member  of  the  Acad- 
emy; died  April,  1695.] 

Was  he  a  greater  genius  than  Rabelais? 

A  specimen  of  his  mal  a  propos  remarks.  A  brother  of  Boileau, 
who  was  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  pronounced  one  day,  before 
La  Fontaine  and  two  or  three  others,  a  long  eulogy  upon  St. 
Augustine.  The  fabulist,  whose  mind  had  been  running  upon  a 
very  different  author,  and  who  had  but  little  idea  of  the  dis- 
tinction to  be  observed  between  writers  on  sacred  and  profane 
subjects,  interrupted  the  doctor  to  ask  whether  he  thought  St. 
Augustine  a  greater  genius  than  Rabelais.  The  theologian  con- 
teiited  himself  with  the  reply,  "  Take  care,  M.  La  Fontaine,  you 
have  put  on  your  stockings  the  wrong  side  out !  ' 

At  another  time  Racine  took  La  Fontaine  to  church,  and  gave 
him  a  Bible,  which  he  opened  at  the  prayer  of  the  Jews  in 
Baruch  ;  becoming  interested  in  the  book,  which  he  had  perhaps 


322  LAMAETIXE. 


never  opened  be  fore,  he  asked  his  friend,  "Who  was  this  Baruch? 
He  was  a  fine  genius! '  For  some  time  afterwards  his  saluta- 
tion to  friends  was,  "Have  you  read  Baruch  V"  —  LAROUSSE  : 
Fleurs  Historiqves. 

His  attachment  to  his  friends,  says  a  biographer,  was  that  of 
a  dog  to  a  master.  When  Mine,  de  Sabliere,  who  gave  the 
improvident  fabulist  a  home  for  twenty  years,  was  asked  what 
she  had  saved  from  a  financial  disaster,  she  replied,  "I  only 
kept  my  dog  and  cat,  and  La  Fontaine." 

He  preferred  the  fables  of  the  ancients  to  his  own,  which 
caused  Fontenelle  to  say,  "  La  Fontaine  is  stupid  enough  to 
think  that  the  ancients  had  more  wit  than  he  "  (77  est  assez  bete 
pour  croire  que  les  anciens  ont  plus  d'esprit  que  hii)  ;  and  Mine,  de 
Sabliere  contrasted  his  simple  and  absent  nature  with  his  clever 
writings,  by  saying,  "  Mon  cher,  you  would  be  terribly  stupid,  if 
you  weren't  so  witty." 


LAMAMTINE. 

[Alphonse  de  Lamartine;  a  French  poet,  historian,  and  statesman; 
born  at  Macon,  Oct.  21,  1792;  published  his  first  poems,  1820;  elected 
to  the  Academy,  1830;  deputy,  1833;  published  "History  of  the  Gi- 
rondists," 1847;  member  of  the  provisional  government,  1848,  and  of 
the  Constituent  Assembly;  retired  after  the  coup  d'etat,  and  devoted 
himself  to  literature;  died  February,  1869.] 

You  are  the  best  republic!  (Vous  etes  la  meillenre  rtpublique!) 

Embracing  Louis  Philippe  at  the  Hotel  de  Yille  after  the 
revolution  of  1830,  which  put  the  head  of  the  Orleans  branch  on 
the  throne,  and  which  seemed  to  liberals  like  Lamartine  to  give 
all  the  guaranties  to  freedom  which  a  republic  could  offer,  with 
greater  security. 

The  prominent  political  position  assumed  by  Lamartine  dates 
from  the  banquets  organized  in  1847  in  opposition  to  the  govern- 
ment, which  no  longer  seemed  to  be  "the  best  republic."  At  one 
of  these  revolutionary  gatherings  in  his  native  city  of  Macon  in 
that  year,  he  made  use  of  the  expression :  "  History  teaches 
every  thing,  even  the  future.  Experience  is  the  only  prophecy 
of  wise  men."  It  is  almost  identical  with  the  apothegm  of 
Frederick  von  Schlegel,  already  quoted  (v.  p.  87).  Hoffman 


LAMARTIXE.  323 


gives  a  humorous  turn  to  the  idea  :  "  The  historian  is  a  sort  of 
talking  ghost  from  out  the  past"  (eine  Art  redendes  Gespenst  ans 
der  Vorzeif).  — Doye  and  Doyaressa. 

If  a  throne  crumbles  of  itself,  I  will  not  try  to  raise  it. 

This  remark,  made  just  before  the  revolution  of  1848,  shows 
the  change  of  sentiment  which  the  son  of  a  royalist  officer  and 
an  original  partisan  of  the  house  of  Orleans  had  experienced. 

The  "  Spanish  marriages,"  so  called,  or  the  union  in  Spain  of 
the  Orleans  and  Bourbon  families,  by  the  marriage  of  a  son  of 
Louis  Philippe  to  a  Spanish  infanta,  proved  of  great  unpopu- 
larity ;  it  covered  its  promoter,  Guizot,  with  obloquy,  and  con- 
tributed to  the  overthrow  of  Louis  Philippe.  Lamartine  ex- 
pressed the  views  of  liberal  Frenchmen  by  predicting  from  it  a 
great  calamity  :  "  The  House  of  Orleans  will  have  ceased  to  reign 
in  France  from  having  wished  also  to  reign  in  Spain." 

The  want  of  France  is  a  Washington. 

The  existence  of  the  republic,  which  took  the  place  of  the  mon- 
archy of  July,  was  imperilled  by  a  want  of  sympathy  between 
the  provisional  government  and  the  Paris  workmen,  and  by  de- 
mands of  the  latter  for  "national  workshops,"  which  the  govern- 
ment opposed  on  principle.  It  was  at  this  decisive  juncture  that 
the  patriot  turned  to  the  hero  of  the  American  contest,  where,  as 
Lafayette  said,  "  Humanity  .has  won  its  suit,  so  that  liberty 
would  nevermore  be  without  an  asylum."  Unwilling  to  yield 
to  demands  which  were  based  on  communistic  ideas,  Lamartine 
declared,  "You  might  place  me  before  the  muzzle  of  those  guns 
before  you  would  make  me  sign  these  two  words  associated 
together,  '  Organization  of  Labor.'  "  But  his  greatest  triumph 
was  a  refusal  to  adopt  the  red  flag  which  the  workmen,  then 
organized  into  an  armed  force,  wished  to  impose  upon  France  as 
the  sign  of  successful  revolution.  With  their  guns  pointed  at 
his  breast,  he  uttered  the  following  words  at  the  close  of  an 
impassioned  address  that  carried  every  thing  before  it :  "I  will 
refuse,  even  to  the  death,  this  flag  of  blood ;  and  you  should  re- 
pudiate it  still  more  than  I !  for  the  red  flag  which  you  offer  us 
has  only  made  the  tour  of  the  Champs  de  Mars,  drawn  through 
the  blood  of  the  people  in  '91  and  '93 ;  while  the  tricolored 


324  CHARLES  LAMB. 


banner  has  made  the  circuit  of  the  world,  with  the  name,  the 
glory,  and  the  liberty  of  the  country  ! ' 

The  last  years  of  Lamartine's  life  were  imbittered  by  poverty 
and  neglect.  "I  no  longer  live,"  he  once  said:  "I  only  assist  at 
life"  (Je  ne  vis  plus:  fassiste  a  la  vie).  Thus  the  young  and 
beautiful  Mme.  d'Houdetot,  being  asked  of  what  she  was  dream- 
ing, when  found  during  her  last  illness  in  a  pensive  mood,  re- 
plied :  "  I  am  regretting  myself  !  "  (Je  me  reyrette  /) 


CHARLES  LAMB. 

[An  English  essayist;  born  in  London,  February,  1775;  entered  the 
service  of  the  East-India  Company,  1792;  retired,  1825;  published 
"  Essays  of  Elia,"  1830;  died  1834.] 

It  is  better,  at  any  rate,  than  always  aiming  at  dulness. 

When  some  one  said  to  him,  "You  are  always  aiming  at  wit." 
On  Crabb  Robinson's  telling  him,  soon  after  being  called  to 
the  bar,  that  he  had  a  case  in  the  King's  Bench,  Lamb  replied, 
"I  suppose  you  addressed  Milton's  line  to  it:  '  Thou  first  best 
cause,  least  understood.'  "  The  story  is  probably  incorrectly 
told,  as  the  line  is  from  Pope's  "  Universal  Prayer  :  " — 

"  Thou  Great  First  Cause,  least  understood." 

An  old  lady  complained  that  Lamb  did  not  seem  to  be  hearing 
what  she  was  saying.  "  1  cannot  say  that  I  am,"  was  his  answer : 
"  but  perhaps  the  lady  on  the  other  side  of  me  is  ;  for  it  goes  in 
at  one  ear,  and  out  of  the  other." 

If  dirt  were  trumps,  what  a  hand  you  would  hold ! 

To  a  slovenly  whist-player. 

When  told  that  eight  persons  had  dined  together  on  the  top  of 
the  spire  of  Salisbury  Cathedral,  he  remarked,  "  They  must  have 
been  very  sharp  set !  ': 

When  reminded  by  a  superior  at  India  House  that  he  came 
very  late  to  the  office,  Lamb  replied  with  the  most  innocent 
manner  in  the  world,  "  Yes,  sir;  but  you  must  remember  that  I 
go  away  early." 

A  gentleman  looked  into  a  crowded  coach  with  the  question, 
"All  full  inside?  "  to  which  Lamb  replied,  "I  don't  know  how 


MADAME  DE  LA  MEILLERAYE.  325 

it  may  be  with  the  other  passengers,  but  that  last  piece  of  oyster- 
pie  did  the  business  for  me  !  '' 

The  first  water-cure  was  the  flood,  and  it  killed  more 
than  it  cured. 

He  said  of  mixing  brandy  and  water,  "  It  spoils  two  good 
things." 

When  Wordsworth  said,  if  he  had  a  mind,  he  could  write  like 
Shakespeare,  Lamb  suggested,  "It  is  only  the  mind  which  is 
wanting." 

"  Charles  Lamb's  sayings,"  said  Hazlitt,  "  are  generally  like 
women's  letters,  —  all  the  pith  is  in  the  postscript." 

MADAME  DE  LA  MEILLERAYE. 

[Marie  Ruze  d'Effiat,  Marquise  de  la  Meilleraye;  a  cousin  of  Car- 
dinal Richelieu;  her  son  married  a  niece  of  Cardinal  Mazarin.] 

God  will  think  twice  before  damning  a  gentleman  of 
his  quality  (Quand  il  s'ayit  des  gens  de  cette  qualite,  Dieu  y  re- 
garde  bien  a  deux  fois  pour  les  damner). 

Of  the  Chevalier  de  Savoie,  a  brother  of  Prince  Eugene,  a 
man  of  high  birth  but  vicious  life.  The  same  remark  was  made 
of  himself  by  the  Due  de  Clermont-Tonnerre  :  "  God  will  never 
dare  to  damn  a  duke  and  peer  "  (Le  bon  Dieu  naufa  jamais  le 
c&ur  de  damner  un  due  et  pair). 

HUGH  LATIMER. 

[An  English  reformer;  born  in  Leicestershire  about  1472;  gradu- 
ated from  Cambridge;  chaplain  to  Anne  Boleyn,  and  Bishop  of 
Worcester,  15oo-.'>9,  when  he  resigned,  and  was  imprisoned  until  the 
death  of  Henry  VIII.;  burned  at  the  stake,  1555.] 

Be  of  good  cheer,  Master  Ridley,  and  play  the  man. 
"We  shall  this  day  light  such  a  candle,  by  God's 
grace,  in  England,  as  I  trust  shall  never  be  put  out. 

To  Bishop  Nicholas  Ridley,  who  was  burned  with  him,  Oct. 
16,  1555,  after  having  taken  part  at  Oxford  in  a  disputation  on 
the  religious  questions  of  the  day. 


326  CAPTAIN  LAWRENCE. 

CAPTAIN  JAMES  LAWRENCE.] 

[An  American  naval  officer;  born  at  Burlington,  N.J.,  1781; 
served  with  Deeatnr  in  the  Mediterranean;  captured  "The  Peacock" 
from  the  British,  1813;  encountered  "The  Shannon,"  in  "The  Chesa- 
peake," near  Boston,  where  he  was  mortally  wounded,  and  the  vessel 
taken  by  the  English,  June  1, 1813.] 

Don't  give  up  the  ship ! 

The  shorter  form  of  the  last  words  of  the  rash  but  intrepid 
Lawrence,  as  he  was  carried  below  after  his  second  and  mortal 
wound.  The  surgeon's  mate,  Dr.  John  Dix,  testified  on  the 
trial  of  Lieut.  Cox,  April  14,  1814,  that  Capt.  Lawrence  "or- 
dered me  to  go  on  deck,  and  tell  the  men  to  fire  faster,  and  not 
to  give  up  the  ship."  He  had  been  in  command  of  the  "Chesa- 
peake "  but  a  few  days,  and  was  a  stranger  to  the  crew,  who  were 
not  well  disciplined. 

The  laconic  form  of  the  order  floated  at  the  mast-head  of  Com- 
modore Perry's  flag-ship,  "The  Lawrence,"  during  the  battle  of 
Lake  Erie,  Sept.  10,  1813.  Perry  had  said,  "If  a  victory  is  to 
be  gained,  I'll  gain  it ! ''  and  in  his  despatch  to  Gen.  Harrison 
he  announced  the  result  with  a  brevity  worthy  of  Caesar :  "  We 
have  met  the  enemy,  and  they  are  ours ! " 

Another  saying  in  this  war  became  proverbial.  When,  during 
the  battle  of  Lundy's  -Lane,  July  25,  1814,  Gen.  Brown  noticed 
the  fire  of  a  British  battery  on  a  hill  in  the  enemy's  centre, 
and  saw  that  unless  it  were  stopped  it  would  destroy  the  whole 
American  force,  or  compel  it  to  fall  back,  he  asked  Col.  James 
Miller,  commanding  the  Twenty-first  Regiment,  if  he  could  si- 
lence it.  "  I'll  try,  sir,"  was  the  modest  but  unflinching  reply. 
Ascending  the  hill  by  a  flank  movement,  the  regiment  poured 
one  volley  into  the  battery;  his  men  moved  forward  with  the 
bayonet,  the  hill  was  immediately  cleared,  and  the  battery  cap- 
tured. 

Franklin  recommended  Kosciusko,  a  young  Polish  officer,  to 
Washington ;  who  asked  him,  when  he  offered  his  services, 
"What  can  you  do?"  —  "Try  me,"  was  the  laconic  answer. 
Washington  made  him  his  aide-de-camp ;  and  he  superintended 
the  construction  of  the  works  at  West  Point,  where  a  monument 
was  afterwards  erected  to  his  memory. 


SIR  AUSTEN  H.   LAYARD.  327 

SIR  AUSTEN  H.  LAYAED. 

[An  English  Orientalist  and  politician;  born  in  Paris,  of  English 
parents,  March,  1817;  discovered  the  ruins  of  Nineveh,  1840,  made 
excavations  at  Nimroud,  and  sent  many  memorials  of  early  civiliza- 
tion to  the  British  Museum;  member  of  Parliament,  1852;  under 
secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs,  1861-66;  commissioner  of  public 
works,  1868;  has  been  minister  to  Spain  and  Turkey.] 

The  right  man  in  the  right  place. 

In  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  Administration 
Reform  Association,  Jan.  15,  1855,  Mr.  Layard  said,  "  I  have 
always  believed  that  success  would  be  the  inevitable  result  if  the 
two  services,  the  army  and  the  navy,  had  fair  play,  and  if  we 
sent  the  right  man  to  fill  the  right  place." 

Sydney  Smith  said,  "  You  will  generally  see  in  human  life  the 
round  man  and  the  angular  man  planted  in  the  wrong  hole ;  but 
the  bishop  of ,  being  a  round  man,  has  fallen  into  a  triangu- 
lar hole,  and  is  far  better  off  than  many  triangular  men  who  have 
fallen  into  round  holes."  —  Memoirs,  p.  308. 

Talleyrand  has  observed  that  "the  art  of  putting  the  right 
man  in  the  right  place  is  perhaps  the  first  in  the  science  of  gov- 
ernment, but  the  art  of  finding  a  satisfactory  position  for  the 
discontented  is  the  most  difficult." 

NINON  DE  L'ENCLOS. 

[A  French  courtesan,  celebrated  for  her  wit,  beauty,  and  literary 
taste;  born  in  Paris,  1616;  the  friend  of  Mine,  de  Mainteuon,  and 
often  consulted  by  Moliere;  died  1706.] 

The  fine  promise  I  made  La  Chatre !  (Ah,  le  bon  billet  qu'a 
La  Chatre!) 

Her  exclamation  when  taking  another  lover,  and  thinking  of 
the  note  she  had  given  the  Marquis  de  La  Chatre,  promising  to 
be  faithful  to  him  in  his  absence.  "  It  became,"  says  Sainte- 
Beuve,  "a  proverb  upon  empty  assurances."  Thus  a  French 
paper,  commenting  upon  the  declaration  of  M.  de  Freycinet  in 
announcing  his  policy  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Gambetta 
ministry  in  January,  1882,  said  that  "  the  propitious  moment  " 
in  which  the  new  premier  promised  to  bring  forward  the  revision 


328  NINON  DE   L'ENCLOS. 

of  the  constitution  would  prove  to  be  a  near  relative  of  the 
Greek  Kalends :  "  We  have  another  billet  a  La  Chatre,  and  that 
is  all  "  (Nous  avons  un  billet  a  La  Chatre  de plus,  et  c'est  tout). 

The  joy  of  the  mind  marks  its  strength  (Lajoie  de  V esprit 
en  marque  la  force). 

In  a  letter  to  St.  Evremond.  "Joy,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "was 
the  basis  of  her  soul,  and  the  expression  of  the  health  of  her 
mind."  Of  her  was  true  what  Coleridge  wrote  :  — 

"  Joy  is  the  sweet  voice,  joy  the  luminous  cloud, 

We  in  ourselves  rejoice  ! 
And  thence  flows  all  that  charms  or  ear  or  sight, 

All  melodies  the  echoes  of  that  voice, 
All  colors  a  suffusion  from  that  light." 

Dejection. 

Goethe  said  to  Eckermann,  of  Ninon,  "Even  in  her  ninetieth 
year  she  was  young.  When  in  danger  of  death  at  eighteen  she 
said  calmly,  '  What  would  it  be,  after  all?  I  should  leave  only 
mortals  behind  me.' 

O  my  lord,  how  many  virtues  you  make  me  detest ! 

To  the  amiable  but  stupid  Marechal  de  Choiseul. 

When  told  that  liemond,  introducer  of  ambassadors,  an  eccen- 
tric man,  boasted  of  having  been  made  (forme}  by  her,  she 
exclaim.  .1,  "I  have  that  in  common  with  the  Creator,  —  to  have 
made  man,  and  to  have  repented  of  it !  "  (J'ai  eu  cela  en  commun 
avec  Dieu,  d' avoir  forme  Vhomme  et  de  men  etre  repentie.) 

St.  Evremond  wrote  her  from  England,  that  the  idea  of  one's 
friends  gained  by  absence.  She  replied,  "It  was  perhaps  to 
embellish  my  epitaph,  that  you  left  me  "  (C'est  peut-etre  pour 
embellir  mon  epitapJie,  quecette  separation  du  corps  s'estfaite). 

Love  never  dies  of  starvation,  but  often  of  indigestion 

(L1  amour  ne  meurt  jamais  de  besoin,  mats  souvent  d' indigestion). 

She  called  beauty  without  grace  "a  hook  without  bait;  "  and 
glances,  "the  first  billets-doux  of  love." 

In  conversation  with  Queen  Christina  she  dubbed  the  Pre- 
cieuses,  —  the  women  who  affected  literature  while  devoted  to 
gallantry,  —  "the  Jansenists  of  love  "  (les  Jansenistes  de  I 'amour). 


LEO  X.  329 

She  styled  the  Comte  de  Grignan,  son-in-law  of  Mme.  de 
Sevigne,  "a  pumpkin  fricasseed  in  snow"  (c'est  une  vraie  citrouille 
fricassee  dans  de  la  nelge).  It  was  of  him  that  La  Rochefoucauld 
said,  "  His  greatest  ambition  would  have  been  to  die  for  a  love 
he  did  not  feel." 

One  day  Mignard  commiserated  the  very  defective  memory 
with  which  nature  had  endowed  Ninon's  daughter,  who  was 
afterwards  known  as  the  beautiful  Marquise  de  Feuquieres, 
"  Tant  mieux"  cried  the  mother,  casting  a  sly  glance  at  the  ped- 
ants who  crowded  her  salon,  "  so  much  the  better  :  she  will  never 
make  quotations  !  "  —  L 'Esprit  des  Autres,  3. 

LEO  X. 

[Giovanni  de'  Medici,  a  munificent  patron  of  literature  and  the  arts; 
born  at  Florence,  1475;  created  cardinal  at  the  age  of  thirteen ;  elected 
pope,  March  11,  1513;  signed,  with  Francis  I.,  the  constitution  of  the 
Gallican  Church ;  annexed  Urbino  and  Perugia  to  the  papal  see ;  com- 
bined with  Charles  V.  against  Francis  I.;  died  December,  1521.] 

Since  God  has  given  us  the  papacy,  let  us  enjoy  it. 

Words  attributed  to  Leo  X.  on  his  accession,  but  possibly 
suggested  by  his  pontifical  career. 

"Not  the  Christian  religion  only,"  he  declared,  "but  Nature 
herself,  cries  out  against  the  state  of  slavery." 

A  man  dedicated  to  the  Pope,  in  the  hope  of  a  reward,  a  book 
on  the  art  of  making  gold.  As  Leo  saw  the  discoverer  follow- 
ing him  everywhere,  he  gave  him  an  empty  purse,  saying,  "As 
you  can  make  gold,  you  only  need  a  purse  to  put  it  in." 

LEONIDAS. 

[King  of  Sparta;  succeeded  his  brother,  402  B.C.;  commanded  the 
four  thousand,  or,  as  some  say,  seven  thousand,  Greeks  who  defended 
the  Pass  of  Thermopylae  against  the  army  of  Xerxes,  480,  until  IK; 
found  his  position  turned,  when  he  died  at  the  head  of  his  Spartans.] 

* 

Unless  I  had  been  better  than  you,   I  had  not  been 
king. 

When  some  one  said  to  him,  "  Abating  that  you  are  king,  you 
are  no  better  than  we." 


330  MARIE   LESZCINSKA. 

His  wife  Gorgo,  when  he  went  forth  to  fight  the  Persians 
at  Thermopylae,  asked  him  what  command  he  left  with  her. 
"Marry  brave  men,  and  bear  them  brave  children,"  was  the 
reply.  To  the  ephors,  who  remarked  that  he  was  leading  few 
to  Thermopylae,  he  said,  "  They  are  many,  considering  on  what 
design  we  go."  He  assured  one  of  the  soldiers  at  Thermopylae, 
who  feared  that  the  flight  of  Persian  arrows  would  darken  the 
sun,  "  Therefore  it  will  be  pleasant  for  us  to  fight  in  the  shade." 

Xerxes  wrote  to  Leonidas,  that,  if  he  would  consult  his  inter- 
est, he  might  be  lord  of  all  Greece ;  to  which  the  Spartan  replied, 
"  If  you  understood  wherein  consists  the  happiness  of  life,  you 
would  not  covet  other  men's ;  but  know  that  I  would  rather  die 
for  the  liberty  of  Greece  than  be  a  monarch  over  my  country- 
men ; "  and  to  the  Persian  monarch,  writing  again  for  a  delivery 
of  the  Spartan  arms,  Leonidas  returned  one  of  those  answers, 
called,  from  Laconia,  another  name  of  his  country,  laconic, — 
"Come  and  take  them." 

When  he  had  resolved  to  oppose  the  advance  of  the  Persian 
army,  he  ordered  his  soldiers  to  dine,  saying,  "  This  night  we 
shall  sup  with  Pluto !  "  Simonides  wrote  the  epitaph  of  the 
Spartans :  — 

"  Go,  stranger,  and  to  Lacedaemon  tell, 
That  here,  obedient  to  her  laws,  we  fell." 

MARIE  LESZCINSKA. 

[Daughter  of  Stanislas,  King  of  Poland;  born  June  23, 1703;  mar- 
ried Louis  XV.  of  France,  1725;  died  at  Versailles,  June  24,  1768.] 

Good  kings  are  slaves,  and  their  people  are  free  (Les 
bons  rois  sont  esclaves,  et  leurs  peuples  sont  libres). 

The  maxims  of  the  amiable  but  neglected  wife  of  Louis  XV., 
if  acted  upon,  might  have  averted  or  postponed  the  French  Rev- 
olution. "  The  treasures  of  the  state,"  she  said,  "  are  not  ours  : 
we  have  no  right  to  spend  in  arbitrary  gifts  the  money  earned 
by  the  artisan  and  the  laborer." 

It  is  better  to  listen  to  those  who  cry  to  us  from  afar, 
"Solace  our  misery,"  than  to  those  who  whisper  in 
our  ears,  "Increase  our  fortunes"  (II  vaut  mieux  ecouter 
ceux  qui  nous  crient  de  loin,  soulagez  noire  misere,  que  cenx  qui 
nous  disent  a  Voreille,  auymentez  notre  fortune). 


DUG  DE  LEVIS.  331 


If  there  were  no  little  people  in  the  world,  we  should 
not  be  great ;  and  we  ought  not  to  be  great  except 
for  their  sakes  (Nous  ne  serious  pas  grands  sans  les  pctits  ; 
nous  ne  devons  I'etre  que  pour  eux). 

'To  boast  of  our  rank  is  to  show  ourselves  beneath  our 
rank  (Tirer  vanitede  son  rang,  c'est  avertir  qu'on  est  au-dessous). 

Kings  show  their  pity  in  doing  justice,  and  do  justice 
in  showing  pity  (La  misericorde  des  rois  est  de  rcndre  la  jus- 
tice, et  la  justice  des  rois  est  d'exercer  la  misericorde). 

% 

Contentment  travels  rarely  with  fortune,  but  follows 
virtue  even  into  misfortune  (Le  contentement  voyage  rare- 
ment  avec  la  fortune,  mais  il  suit  la  vertu  jusque  dans  le  malheur). 

DUG  DE  LEVIS. 

[A  French  author;  born  about  17GO;  member  of  the  Constituent 
Assembly;  emigrated,  1792;  returned  to  France,  1800;  author  of  sev- 
eral works,  and  member  of  the  Academy;  died  1830.] 

Noblesse  oblige. 

Always  used  without  translation  :  its  meaning  has  been  defined 
by  Littre,  "  Whoever  calls  himself  noble  should  conduct  himself 
well."  Of  the  origin  of  this  famous  mot,  Comte  de  Laborde,  in 
a  notice  of  the  meeting  of  the  French  Historical  Society  in  1865, 
says  that  one  day  the  Due  de  Levis  recalled  a  thought  to  which 
he  had  given  utterance  in  1808,  apropos  of  the  establishment  of 
the  nobility  of  the  empire,  to  the  effect,  that,  while  no  one  had 
previously  said  Noblesse  oblige,  it  was  perhaps  the  best  maxim 
for  both  the  old  and  the  new  regimes. 

SIR   GEORGE   CORNEWALL  LEWIS. 

[An  English  statesman;  born  in  London,  1806;  educated  at  Ox- 
ford; entered  Parliament,  1847;  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  1855; 
home  secretary,  1859;  secretary  for  war,  1SG1;  died  18Go.J 

Life  would  be  quite  tolerable,  if  it  were  not  for  its 
amusements. 

Having  regard,  probably,  to  that  characteristic  of  the  English 
which  led  Froissart  to  say  of  them  in  his  "  Chronicles,"  "  They 
take  their  pleasures  sadly." 


332  PPJNCE  DE  LIGNE. 

In  Hume's  Dialogues  concerning  Natural  Religion,  the  author 
says,  "To  turn  the  gay  side  of  life  to  him,  and  give  him  a  notion 
of  its  pleasures,  whither  could  I  conduct  him,  — to  a  ball,  to  an 
opera,  to  court?  He  might  think  I  was  only  showing  him  a 
diversity  of  distress  and  sorrow."  —  Essays  and  Treatises,  II.  502. 
Sir  John  Cheke,  in  a  letter  dated  Cambridge,  May  30,  1549, 
wrote :  "  Oh,  what  pleasure  is  it  to  lacke  pleasures  !  " 

A  tempest  in  a  teapot. 

.   Talleyrand,  when   asked   if   Geneva   w7ere   not  dull,  replied, 
"Especially  \vhen  they  amuse  themselves." 

It  was  of  the  troubles  of  the  republic  of  Geneva,  near  the 
close  of  the  last  century,  that  the  equivalent  of  our  expression, 
"a  tempest  in  a  teapot,"  was  first  used  in  modern  times  by, 
as  some  say,  an  Austrian  archduke,  Leopold  ;  or,  according  to 
others,  by  a  Russian,  Paul  (cest  une  lempete  dans  un  verre  d'cau). 
Weber  ("  Democritus  ")  assigns  it  to  Linguet,  a  French  advocate 
and  author  (1736-1794).  It  was  a  proverb  in  Rome,  and  is  thus 
used  by  Cicero,  who  says  that  one  Gratidius  excitabat  fluctus  in 
simpulo,  ut  dicitur. — De  Leyibus,  III.  Balzac  ("Le  Cure  de 
Tours  ")  refers  the  French  proverb  to  Montesquieu,  speaking  of 
the  unstable  tenure  of  office  in  the  republic  of  San  Marino, 
where  a  man  who  seized  power  one  day  lost  it  the  next.  Athe- 
naeus,  wrho  wrote  in  the  third  century,  represents  (in  "  Deipnoso- 
phisten,"  VIII.  19)  the  flute-player  Dorion  ridiculing  Timotheos, 
a  virtuoso  on  the  zither,  w7ho  washed  to  imitate  a  storm  at  sea  on 
his  instrument,  —  "I  have  heard  a  greater  storm  in  a  boiling 
teapot." 

• 

PRINCE  DE  LIGNE. 

[Karl  Joseph,  Prince  de  Ligne,  an  Austrian  general  and  wit;  born 
at  Brussels,  May  12,  1735;  served  in  the  Seven  Years'  War;  ambas- 
sador to  Russia,  1782;  field-marshal,  1808;  died  at  Vienna,  1814,  leaving 
memoirs,  letters,  and  other  works  full  of  piquant  anecdote.] 

Le  congr&s  danse,  mais  ne  marche  pas  (The  congress 
dances,  but  does  not  advance). 

Ahvays  quoted  in  French ;  of  the  congress  of  sovereigns  and 
plenipotentiaries  at  Vienna,  opened  in  November,  1814,  to  re- 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 


arrange  the  map  of  Europe  after  the  abdication  of  Napoleon  ; 
interrupted  by  his  return  from  Elba,  February,  1815.  Differing 
on  many  important  points,  the  allied  monarchs  and  ambassadors 
spent  much  time,  after  the  opening  of  the  congress,  in  the  social 
festivities  for  which  Vienna  has  always  been  celebrated.  The 
prince  added,  "  When  they  have  exhausted  all  other  entertain- 
ments, I  will  give  them  the  spectacle  of  the  funeral  of  a  field- 
marshal."  As  if  to  keep  his  promise,  he  died  on  the  13th  of 
the  following  month  ;  "  and  the  Congress  buried  him  without 
ceasing  to  dance." 

In  love,  it  is  only  the  commencement  that  charms.  I 
am  not  surprised  that  we  find  pleasure  in  frequently 
recommencing. 

Founded  on  the  French  proverb,  L'amour  est  un  vrai  recom- 
mcnceur. 

One  or  twro  of  the  puns  of  the  prince  may  here  be  given. 
When  asked  how  he  found  the  cardinal-archbishop  of  Sens,  he 
replied,  "  Hors  de  son  diocese  "  (i.e.,  hors  de  Sens).  He  was  mad. 

The  prince-royal  of  Prussia  had  a  fainting-fit  during  a  session 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  St.  Petersburg.  It  gave  occasion 
to  the  prince  to  say,  "  Le  prince,  au  milieu  de  V  Academic,  s'est 
tr  ouve  sans  connaissance  "  (The  prince  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  the  Academy  without  consciousness;  or,  without  acquaint- 
ance) . 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

["  The  incarnation  of  the  people  and  of  modern  democracy;  "  born 
in  Hardin  County,  Ky.,  Feb.  12,  1809;  served  in  the  Black  Hawk  war, 
18.32;  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature;  elected  to  Congress,  184(5; 
President  of  the  United  States  from  March  4,  1861,  until  his  death  by 
assassination,  April  15,  1865.] 

I  believe  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently 
half  slave  and  half  free. 

The  first  famous  utterance  of  Lincoln  on  the  subject  which 
was  destined  to  divide  the  Union  temporarily  after  his  own 
election  to  the  Presidency,  was  made  in  a  speech  to  the  Illinois 
Whig  State  Convention  at  Springfield,  June  16,  1858.  Sumner 


334  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN. 

once  said,  "  Where  slavery  is,  there  liberty  cannot  be ;  and  \vhere 
liberty  is,  there  slavery  cannot  be." 

Just  before  the  fall  of  Yicksburg,  July  4,  1863,  a  self-consti- 
tuted committee  urged  Mr.  Lincoln  to  remove  Gen.  Grant  from 
command  on  the  ground  of  his  intemperate  habits.  After  lis- 
tening to  them,  the  President  brought  the  interview  to  a  close 
by  asking  them  if  they  knew  where  the  general  bought  his 
whiskey ;  "  because,  if  I  can  find  out,  I  will  send  every  general 
in  the  field  a  barrel  of  it."  —  CARPENTER:  Six  Months  in  the 
White  House. 

When  objections  were  made  to  the  appointment  of  Wolfe  to 
the  command  of  the  expedition  against  Quebec,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  mad ;  "  Mad,  is  he  ?  "  exclaimed  George  II. :  "  I  wish 
his  madness  was  epidemic,  and  that  every  officer  in  my  army  was 
seized  with  it."  The  result  is  well  known.  On  the  night  of 
Sept.  12,  1769,  the  British  troops  were  embarked  for  a  spot  on 
'the  opposite  side  of  Quebec,  whence  they  might  scale  the  Heights 
of  Abraham,  overlooking  the  city.  Undisturbed  save  by  the 
dipping  of  the  oars,  Wolfe  repeated  Gray's  Elegy,  saying  that 
he  "would  rather  have  written  it  than  take  Quebec."  After 
scaling  the  heights,  his  whole  army  was  soon  drawn  up  before 

O  O  '  v  * 

the  French;  and,  at  the  first  volley,  both  commanders  fell. 
Wolfe  heard  the  cry,  "  They  run ! "  and,  being  told  it  was  the 
enemy,  he  exclaimed,  "  Now  God  be  praised!  I  die  happy." 
Montcalm,  when  assured  that  his  wound  was  mortal,  replied, 
"So  much  the  better:  I  shall  not  see  the  English  in  Quebec." 
Their  common  monument  bears  the  inscription :  Mortem  virtus, 
communam  famam  historia,  monumentum  posteritas  dedit. 

Government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  peo- 
ple. 

At  the  consecration  of  the  national  cemetery  on  the  battle-field 
of  Gettysburg,  Nov.  19, 1863,  the  President  made  a  short  address, 
in  which,  speaking  of  the  victorious  army,  he  said,  "  The  world 
will  little  note,  nor  long  remember,  what  we  say  here  ;  but  it  can 
never  forget  what  they  did  here."  He  closed  by  pledging  the 
country  to  renewed  effort,  "that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 


LOUIS  XL  335 


It  is  not  best  to  swap  horses  when  crossing  a  stream. 

When  congratulated  by  the  National  Union  League  upon  his 
re-nomination  to  the  Presidency,  June  9,  1864,  he  replied,  "  I 
have  not  permitted  myself,  gentlemen,  to  conclude  that  I  am  the 
best  man  in  this  country;  but  I  am  reminded  in  this  connection, 
of  the  story  of  an  old  Dutch  farmer,  who  remarked  to  a  com- 
panion that  it  was  not  best  to  swap  horses  when  crossing  a 
stream." 

It  was  in  his  second  inaugural  address,  March  4,  1865,  that 
Lincoln  expressed  the  feeling  which  had  animated  him  through- 
out the  struggle  now  soon  to  terminate:  "With  malice  toward 
none,  with  charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right,  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we 


are  in." 


A  short  time  before  this  (Feb.  2),  President  Lincoln  attended 
what  was  called  the  Hampton  Roads  Conference,  when  Mr. 
Hunter,  the  Confederate  Secretary  of  State,  referred  to  the  cor- 
respondence between  Charles  I.  and  Parliament  as  a  precedent 
for  a  negotiation  between  a  constitutional  ruler  and  rebels. 

O 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  "  Upon  matters  of  history,  I  must  refer 
you  to  Mr.  Seward,  for  he  is  posted  in  such  things,  and  I  don't 
profess  to  be  ;  but  my  only  distinct  recollection  of  the  matter  is, 
that  Charles  lost  his  head."  —  CARPENTER  :  Six  Months. 

LOUIS  XT. 

[King  of  France;  born  at  Bourges,  1423;  became  king,  1461;  crushed 
the  league  of  disaffected  nobles  by  concessions  he  never  intended  to 
execute;  seized  Burgundy  on  the  death  of  Charles  the  Bold,  and 
became  involved  in  a  long  war  with  Austria;  died  1483.] 

Divide  et  imp  era  (Divide  in  order  to  rule). 

The  principle  upon  which  he  broke  down  the  power  of  his 
great  vassals.  When  feeble,  he  could  accommodate  himself  to 
circumstances,  make  treaties  acceptable  to  his  enemies,  and  yield 
them  rights  and  privileges,  in  order  to  set  them  against  one 
another;  but,  their  union  once  broken,  he  retook  all  he  had 
surrendered,  and  failed  to  perform  all  that  he  had  promised. 

Goethe,  in  his  versions  of  proverbs  ("  Spriichwortlich  "),  illus- 
trates two  theories  of  government :  — 


336  LOUIS  XII. 


"  Entzwei  und  gebiete  !    Tiichtig  "Wort; 
Verein'  und  leite  !     Besserer  Hort." 
(Divide  and  rule,  the  politician  cries; 
Unite  and  lead,  is  watchword  of  the  wise.) 

Coke  lays  down  the  maxim  of  Louis,  "  as  a  rule  for  lords  and 
commons  to  have  good  success  in  Parliament."  —  Institutes,  IV. 
35. 

Qui  nescit  dissimulare  n esc it  regnare. 

This  is  another  of  the  king's  maxims,  which,  like  the  previous 
one,  is  always  quoted  in  Latin,  and  which  means  that  he  who 
cannot  dissimulate  is  unfit  to  reign.  —  DE  THOU  :  Hist.  Univ  , 
III.  293.  It  was  all  the  Latin  that  he  thought  the  dauphin, 
afterwards  Charles  VIII.,  needed  to  learn. 

Frederick  William  I.,  father  of  Frederick  the  Great,  who 
called  his  son  "  a  fiddler  and  a  poet,  who  will  spoil  all  my 
labors,"  said,  "  My  son  shall  not  learn  Latin ;  and  more  than 
that,  I  will  not  suffer  anybody  even  to  mention  such  a  thing  to 
me." — MACAULAY  :  Frederick  the  Great.  Napoleon's  theory 
was  hardly  more  liberal :  "  A  little  Latin  and  mathematics  is 
enough  "  (Un  pen  de  latin  et  de  mathe'matique,  cela  suffit). 

LOUIS  XII. 

[King  of  France;* born  at  Blois,  1462;  succeeded  his  cousin,  Charles 
VIII. ,  1498;  conquered  Milan;  prosecuted  his  claim  to  Naples,  until 
driven  out  of  Italy  by  Pope  Julius  II.;  died  Jan.  1,  1515.1 

The  King  of  France  does  not  avenge  the  injuries  of 
the  Due  d'Orleans  (Le  roi  de  France  ne  venge  pas  les  injures 
du  Due  d'Orleans). 

Generously  dismissing,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne,  the  sug- 
gestion of  punishing  the  city  of  Orleans,  which  had  incurred  his 
displeasure  while  he  was  heir  presumptive.  He  was  anticipated 
in  the  utterance  of  a  thought  so  worthy  a  king  by  Philip,  Comte 
de  Bresse,  who  became  Due  de  Savoie  in  1497,  and  said,  "  It  " 
would  be  shameful  as  duke  to  avenge  the  injuries  of  the  count " 
(77  serait  Iwnteux  au  due  de  venyer  les  injures  faites  au  comte}. 
The  Emperor  Hadrian  used  but  one  word  to  express  the  same 
idea.  Meeting,  on  the  first  day  of  his  accession  to  power,  an 


LOUIS  XIII.  337 


ancient  enemy,  and  noticing  his  embarrassment,  he  passed  him, 
saying  simply  "Evasisti"  (Thou  hast  escaped). 

Is   it   his   business  to  curse?  (Et  quoi,  est-ce  son  emploi  de 
maudire  f) 

During  the  contest  for  the  possession  of  Naples,  when  Louis 

heard  that  the  Pope  intended  to  excommunicate  him.      Thus 

Theano,  priestess   of  the  temple  of  Agraule,  replied  to  those 

•who  urged  her  to  curse  Alcibiades,  "  I  am  priestess  to  bless,  not 

to  curse." 

Louis  XII.  gained  great  popularity  by  an  abatement  of  taxes, 
and  was  pleased  that  his  subjects  remarked  upon  his  simplicity 
of  dress  and  royal  establishment.  "  I  would  rather  my  people," 
he  said,  "smiled  at  my  parsimony,  than  wept  over  it."  He 
carried  the  name  of  "  father  of  the  people  "  to  the  grave  ;  for  on 
the  night  of  his  death  the  watchmen  of  Paris  called  the  hour  of 
midnight  on  their  rounds,  adding,  "  The  good  king  Louis,  father 
of  his  people,  is  dead ! "  The  king  had  foreseen  the  change  in 
the  condition  of  his  subjects  which  the  luxurious  tendencies  of 
his  son,  afterwards  Francis  I.,  would  cause;  and  used  to  remark, 
"  That  big  boy  will  spoil  all." 

LOUIS  XIII. 

[King  of  France;  born  at  Fontainebleau,  Sept.  27,  1601;  succeeded' 
his  father,  Henry  IV.,  1610;  under  the  regency  of  his  mother,  Marie 
de  Medici,  until  his  majority  in  1614,  when  Cardinal  Richelieu  became 
the  controlling  spirit  of  the  government;  died  May,  1613.] 

I  should  like  to  see  the  grimace  which  M.  le  Grand  is 
making  at  this  hour. 

Louis  XIII.  was  as  fond  of  bons  mots  as  his  illustrious  father ; 
he  is  not,  however,  condemned,  like  Henry,  to  bear  the  burden  of 
sayings  he  did  not  utter,  and  those  he  did  let  fall  have  never 
been  preserved.  Only  one  remains ;  and  that  is  a  calumny,  just 
as  all  the  actions  told  of  him  are  ridiculous.  It  relates  to  the 
execution  of  the  Marquis  de  Cinq-Mars,  who  had  been  the  favor- 
ite of  the  king,  and  received  from  him  the  nickname  of  M.  le 
Grand,  from  his  office  of  grand  ecuyer.  Together  with  De 
Thou,  a  man  of  great  learning  and  virtue,  he  incurred  the 


338  LOUIS  XIV. 


enmity  of  Richelieu,  who  accused  them  of  complicity  in  the 
treason  of  Gaston,  the  king's  brother,  and  caused  their  execution 
in  1642.  According  to  Tallemant,  the  king  at  the  fatal  moment 
pulled  out  his  watch,  and  coolly  remarked,  "  Je  voudrais  bien  voir 
la  grimace  qu'il  fait  a  cette  heure" —  Historiettes,  III.  58.  Lady 
Jackson  in  her  entertaining  book  "Old  Paris"  (I.  227)  quotes 
the  king  as  saying,  "  M.  le  Grand  is  about  to  pass  a  disagreeable 
quarter  of  an  hour,"  and  adds,  that  the  French  proverbial 
expression,  un  mauvais  quart  d'heure,  was  first  used  on  this  occa- 
sion. Fournier,  however,  asserts  that  Louis  knew  neither  the 
hour  nor  the  day  of  the  execution,  which  had  been  suddenly 
postponed  because  the  executioner  of  Lyons  had  broken  his  leg. 
He  calls  the  remark  the  second  and  abbreviated  edition  of  one 
made  by  the  Due  d'Alencon,  on  being  told  of  the  death  of  the 
Comte  de  St.-Aignan  at  the  "tumult  of  Antwerp,'*  Jan.  17,  1583. 
On  the  20th  of  February,  1643,  Louis  XIII.,  perceiving  that 
his  end  was  near,  wished  that  the  dauphin,  then  four  and  a  half 
years  old,  should  be  christened.  When  the  ceremony  had  been 
performed,  the  child  was  placed  upon  the  king's  bed ;  and  his 
father,  wishing  to  see  that  his  injunctions  had  been  fulfilled, 
asked  him  his  name.  "My  name  is  Louis  XIV.,"  replied  the 
enfant  terrible.  "  Xot  yet,  my  son,  not  yet,"  murmured  the  dying 
king :  some  add,  "but  pray  to  God  that  it  may  be  soon." 

LOUIS  XIV. 

[King  of  France;  born  Sept.  16,  1638;  ascended  the  throne  in  his 
fifth  year,  under  the  regency  of  Anne  of  Austria,  who  was  directed 
by  Cardinal  Mazarin;  at  his  death  Louis  assumed  control  of  affairs; 
invaded  Flanders  and  Franche-Comte,  1667;  revoked  the  Edict  of 
Nantes,  1685;  opposed  the  Spanish  and  English  in  1688,  and  in  the 
war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  1700;  died  Aug.  31,  1715,  after  the 
most  brilliant  reign  in  French  annals.] 

| 

L'etat,  c'est  moi! 

No  historic  mot  has  enjoyed  a  greater  celebrity  than  the 
alleged  answer  of  Louis  XIV.,  in  1655,  when  seventeen  years  of 
age,  to  the  president  of  Parliament,  who  spoke  of  the  interest  of 
the  state,  and  was  interrupted  by  the  king's  exclamation,  "I 
am  the  state  !  "  It  may  be  interesting  to  trace  the  history 


LOUIS  XIY.  339 


of  this  answer  from  its  first  appearance  under  the  sanction  of 
a  great  name,  to  notice  the  rhetorical  embellishments  it  has 
received,  and  finally  to  observe  upon  how  slight  a  foundation  it 
rests,  and  how  opposed  it  was  to  the  character  of  the  king  and 
his  position  in  the  state. 

It  must  be  understood  in  the  first  place,  that  no  contempo- 
raneous authority  is  to  be  given  for  the  literal  expression,  L'e'tat, 
c'est  moi.  Tradition,  not  history,  had  assigned  these  words  under 
any  circumstances  to  the  king,  until  so  recent  a  writer  as 
Dulaure  ("History  of  Paris,"  1863,  p.  387)  asserts  that  Louis 
interrupted  a  judge  who  used  the  expression,  "  The  king  and  the 
state,"  by  saying,  "I  am  the  state." 

Leaving  tradition,  we  find  Voltaire,  "  the  inventor  of  history," 
giving  an  account  of  the  appearance  of  the  young  king  before 
the  Parliament  of  Paris  on  the  occasion  already  referred  to  :  — 

"The  neglected  state  of  the  king's  education,"  he  says,  "a 
timidity  caused  by  a  fear  of  compromising  himself,  and  ignor- 
ance of  the  intentions  of  Cardinal  Mazarin,  disposed  the  court  to 
think  that  he  would  be  a  king  but  in  name,  like  his  father  Louis 
XIII.  Only  one  occasion  showed  those  who  looked  beyond 
appearances  what  he  was  to  become.  Parliament  wished,  in 
1655,  to  meet  to  discuss  certain  edicts  after  the  close  of  the  civil 
wars,  when  Louis  had  completed  his  first  campaign,  and  taken 
the  coronation  oath.  The  king  left  Vincennes,  dressed  for  the 
chase ;  followed  by  his  court,  he  entered  Parliament,  booted,  and 
whip  in  hand,  and  uttered  these  words  of  his  own :  '  I  am  aware 
of  the  evils  your  assemblies  have  produced ;  I  order  you  to  cease 
discussing  my  edicts :  Mr.  President,  I  forbid  you  to  permit  these 
assemblies,  and  any  of  you  to  demand  them.'  "  —  Siecle  de  Louis 
XIV.,  chap.  xxv.  Voltaire  then  adds  some  dramatic  touches: 
the  king's  figure  already  majestic,  the  nobility  of  his  counte- 
nance, the  tone  of  a  master  with  which  he  spoke,  imposed  an 
authority  which  his  rank,  hitherto  but  little  respected,  had  not 
given  him.  Voltaire  cites  no  authority  for  this  circumstantial 
narrative,  but  has  himself  served'  as  an  authority  for  all  subse- 
quent historians  to  follow.  Certain  slight  differences  are  yet  to 
be  observed.  Thus  the  "Biographic  Michaud,"  XXV.  161)7,  sur- 
rounds the  young  king,  on  his  perilous  expedition  to  beard  the 
venerable  judges  of  Paris,  with  several  companies  of  guards. 


340  LOUIS  XIY. 


Lavallee,  writing  in  1847,  adds  spurs  to  the  king's  toilet  of  the 
chase,  which  already  included  a  whip.  Henri  Martin  ("History 
of  France,"  XII.  467)  makes  the  extraordinary  mistake  of  sup- 
posing that  the  "bed  of  justice"  which  the  king  "ascended  in 
this  unusual  costume "  was  a  piece  of  furniture !  (le  roi  .  .  . 
monta  dans  son  lit  de  justice  en  ce  costume  inn-site;)  certainly  an 
unusual  costume,  that  of  boots  and  spurs  for  a  royal  couch ! 
The  historian  seemed  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  under  the  ancient 
monarchy  of  France  a  solemn  session  of  Parliament  was  opened 
by  the  king  sitting  on  a  pile  of  cushions,  like  the  woolsack  of  the 
English  lord  chancellor ;  and  that,  in  consequence,  later  assem- 
blages of  Parliament  under  the  presidency  of  the  sovereign  were 
called  "beds  of  justice  "  (I its  de  justice),  long  after  the  cushions 
of  the  fourteenth  century  had  disappeared. 

The  Due  de  Noailles,  in  a  "History  of  Mme.  de  Maintenon," 
published  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  was  the  first  to  point 
out  the  improbability,  not  to  say  the  falsity,  of  this  legend  of 
Louis  XIV.  Considering  the  question  as  in  some  sort  the  key 
to  both  the  foreign  and  domestic  policy  of  the  king's  reign  of 
half  a  century,  he  asks,  "Did  Louis  XIV.,  in  the  possession  and 
intoxication  of  an  almost  unlimited  power,  ever  pronounce  the 
famous  mot,  *  L'e'tat,  c'est  moi '  ?  Not  only  is  this  doubtful,  for  it 
is  not  contained  in  any  contemporaneous  narrative,  but  nothing 
is  less  authenticated  than  the  anecdote  of  which  it  forms  a  part 
(that  of  the  whip,  etc.).  Louis  XIV.,  being  resolved  to  abolish 
the  political  pretensions  of  Parliament  after  the  Fronde,  and  to 
reduce  it  to  its  judicial  functions  (the  old  parlements  of  France 
were  judicial  and  not  legislative  bodies),  accomplished  it  with 
passion  perhaps,  but  not  in  that  contemptuous  fashion  so  little 
in  conformity,  with  his  royal  dignity  and  the  respect  due  the 
great  bodies  of  the  state  :  on  the  contrary,  he  executed  his 
purpose  with  all  the  ceremony  and  solemnity  of  a  lit  de  justice  ,- 
first,  in  the  session  of  Dec.  22,  1665,  and  secondly,  without  the 
ceremony  of  the  lit  de  justice,  in  the  session  of  April  20,  1667. 
These  are  the  only  sessions  at  which  the  king  assisted  ;  and  the 
journal  of  Olivier  d'Ormesson,  which  narrates  the  events  with 
minute  detail,  makes  no  mention  of  this  haughty  speech,  so  bit- 
terly censured  afterwards.  This  mot  will,  however,  cling  to  him  ; 
because  it  is  true,  if  taken  in  its  right  sense  of  indicating  the 


LOUIS  XIV.  341 


community  of  interest  existing  between  the  country  and  roy- 
alty." (Vol.  III.  pp.  G67-670.) 

If  we  now  turn  to  the  contemporaneous  "  Memoirs  "  of  Monfc- 
glat,  we  find  a  much  simpler  scene  enacted  in  the  high  court 
of  justice  than  that  given  by  Voltaire  and  later  writers.  After 
speaking  of  the  apprehensions  caused  by  the  previous  conduct  of 
Parliament,  Montgiat  says  that  this  consideration  caused  the 
king  to  leave  the  chateau  of  Vincennes,  and  visit  Parliament  in 
the  morning,  wearing  a  red  coat  and  a  gray  chapeau,  accom- 
panied by  his  entire  court  similarly  attired,  a  fashion  hitherto 
unknown.  It  is  this  expression,  "dans  ce  costume  inusite,"  which 
Henri  Martin  applies  to  the  king's  mounting  the  lit  de  justice  in 
high  boots  and  spurs  (v.  p.  340).  When  the  session  had  been 
opened  (quand  il  fut  dans  son  lit  de  justice),  he  prohibited  Par- 
liament from  assembling;  and,  after  having  said  four  words,  he 
arose  and  departed,  without  listening  to  any  address.  —  Memoirs, 
Collection  Petitot,  L.  458.  Madame  de  Motteville,  another  con- 
temporary, agrees  with  Montgiat,  and  adds  high  boots  (g?*osses 
bottes)  to  the  red  coat  and  gray  hat.  Guizot  alone,  of  modern  his- 
torians, follows  strictly  Montglat's  account.  —  History  of  France, 
IV.  236. 

It  has  been  left  for  a  recent  writer,  M  Cheruel,  to  clearly 
demonstrate,  by  reference  to  a  manuscript  contemporaneous  jour- 
nal, the  impossibility  of  the  king's  making  use  of  such  words 
as  "I  am  the  state"  at  this  particular  time.  Having  reviewed 
the  tendencies  of  Parliament  after  the  wars  of  the  Fronde, 
M.  Cheruel  adds,  "  It  is  here  that  a  suspicious  tradition  has  fixed 
the  appearance  of  Louis  XIV.  before  Parliament,  dressed  for  the 
chase,  and  whip  in  hand,  and  that  the  famous  answer  to  the 
president  has  been  attributed  to  him,  '  I  am  the  state ! '  In 
place  of  this  dramatic  scene,  which  has  become  graven  in  his- 
toric memory,  the  most  authentic  documents  exhibit  the  king 
imposing  silence  upon  Parliament,  but  without  the  affectation 
of  an  insolent  hauteur."  He  then  quotes  from  the  manuscript 
journal  written  by  a  partisan  of  the  Parliament,  who  would 
have  reproduced  any  circumstances  unfavorable  to  the  king, 
had  such  occurred.  The  account  closes  with  these  words  :  "  The 
king,  rising  quickly  before  any  one  could  reply  to  him,  returned 
to  the  Louvre,  and  from  there  to  the  forest  of  Vincennes,  which 


342  LOUIS  XIV. 


he  had  left  in  the  morning,  and  where  the  Cardinal  (Maza- 
rin)  awaited  him."  —  Histoire  de  U  administration  monarchique  en 
France,  II.  32.  We  here  have  a  description  of  the  event  clothed 
in  its  simplest  terms.  The  king,  hunting  in  the  forest  of  Vin- 
cennes,  left  the  chateau  in  the  dress  he  would  wear  at  such 
times,  —  a  red  coat,  gray  hat,  high  boots,  —  and  appeared  before 
Parliament  to  recite  a  lesson  of  four  words  he  had  learned  from 
Cardinal  Mazarin,  who  awaited  his  return  to  hear  how  his  royal 
pupil  had  acquitted  himself  of  his  task.  Into  that  lesson  no 
such  words  as  "  I  am  the  state  "  could  have  slipped.  "  The  state 
was  not  yet  Louis  XIV.,"  says  Fournier:  "it  was  still  Mazarin." 

When,  after  the  cardinal's  death,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen 
said  to  the  king,  "  Your  Majesty  ordered  me  to  address  myself 
to  the  cardinal  in  all  matters :  as  he  is  dead,  to  whom  shall  I 
refer?"  —  "To  me,"  replied  the  king,  resolved  to  be  his  own 
prime  minister.  He  then  called  the  members  of  his  cabinet 
together,  and  said  to  them,  "  I  have  assembled  you  to  say  that 
hitherto  I  have  allowed  you  to  conduct  my  affairs  through  the 
late  cardinal,  but  that  henceforth  I  intend  to  manage  them 
myself:  you  will  give  me  your  counsel  when  desired."  At  an 
earlier  period,  when  the  court  was  discussing  in  his  presence  the 
absolute  power  of  the  Turkish  sultans,  and  was  giving  exam- 
ples of  its  extent,  he  exclaimed,  "  That  is  as  it  should  be  :  that 
is  really  reigning ! "  In  a  course  of  public  law,  which  years 
afterwards  Louis  XIV.  caused  to  be  written  under  the  direction 
of  M.  de  Torcy,  for  the  guidance  of  his  grandson,  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  the  following  words  occur  on  the  first  page  :  "  The 
nation  is  not  corporate  in  France :  it  lives  entirely  in  the  per- 
son of  the  king "  (La  nation  ne  fait  pas  corps  en  France :  elle 
reside  tout  entiere  dans  la  personne  du  roy)  ;  and  Bossuet  declared 
of  the  sovereign,  "  All  the  state  is  in  him  "  (Tout  Petal  est  en  lui). 
The  germ  of  L'e'tat,  c'est  moi,  lies  in  these  incidents  and  sayings. 

The  education  which  the  kings  of  France  received  did  not 
conduce  to  a  modest  appreciation  of  their  position  in  the  state. 
The  imperial  library  of  St.  Petersburg  contains  a  large  collection 
of  manuscripts  carried  away  from  Paris  during  the  lie  volution. 
Among  them  is  a  sheet  of  paper  on  which  Louis  XIV.,  when  a 
boy,  had  written  five  or  six  times,  in  a  large,  unformed  hand, 
a  lesson  set  by  his  master,  —  "  Homage  is  due  to  kings :  they  do 


LOUIS  XIY.  343 


what  they  like  "  (L'hommage  est  du  aux  rois :  Us  font  tout  ce  que 
lew  plait).  —  MARTIN:  History  of  France,  XV.  95.  When  Louis 
XV.  became  king,  at  as  early  an  age  as  his  predecessor,  and, 
after  his  proclamation,  was  shown  to  the  people  assembled  in 
the  garden  of  the  Tuileries,  his  governor,  Marechal  de  Villeroi, 
Kaid  to  him,  "  Behold  all  these  people,  my  prince  :  they  belong  to 
you;  all  the  people  you  see  yonder  are  yours."  "After  the  edu- 
cation we  received,"  said  Charles  X.,  "  it  is  a  wonder  that  we  did 
not  become  tigers." 

The  rain  at  Marly  does  not  wet  one. 

To  a  cardinal  who  followed  him  in  a  heavy  shower.  This  is 
also  attributed  to  the  Abbe  de  Polignac,  in  answer  to  the  king's 
fears  concerning  him.  In  this  case  it  would  illustrate  the  flat- 
tery paid  to  the  "grand  monarch."  Thus,  asking,  on  one  occa- 
sion, the  time  of  day,  he  was  told,  "  The  time  your  Majesty 
pleases."  Cardinal  d'Estrees  was  dining  with  Louis,  who  com- 
plained of  the  inconvenience  of  having  no  teeth  in  his  old  age. 
"Teeth?"  asked  the  courtier,  "who  has  any?"  (Qui  est-ce  qui 
en  a  ?)  How  could  a  sovereign  coming  to  the  throne  in  child- 
hood, and  surrounded  at  all  times  by  flatterers,  be  properly 
educated  ?  Louis  saw  later  how  his  youth  had  been  mis-spent, 
and  asked,  "  Was  there  not  birch  enough  in  the  forest  of  Fon- 
tainebleau  ?  "  Although  encouraging  literature,  which  found  its 
Augustan  age  in  his  reign,  he  once  asked  the  Due  de  Vivonne, 
who  was  much  given  to  books,  "  Of  what  use  is  reading  ?  "  (Mais, 
a  quoi  sert  bon  de  lire  ?)  Vivonne,  who  was  a  bon  vivant,  and  was 
plump  and  fresh-colored,  replied,  "  Reading,  sire,  does  to  the 
mind  what  your  partridges  do  to  my  cheeks"  (La  lecture  fait  a 
V esprit  ce  que  vos  perdrix  font  a  mes  jouesj. 

When   the  king   reproached  the  duke  on  his  embonpoint,  in. 
presence  of  the  equally  stout  Due  d'Aumont,  and  advised  him 
to  take  more  exercise,  Vivonne  replied,  "  You  do  me  injustice, 
sire  :  not  a  day  passes  that  I  do  not  take  three  turns  round  my 
cousin  d'Aumont." 

To  see  myself  here. 

On  at  least  one  occasion  Louis  XIV.  received  an  answer  which 
must  have  surprised  him.  The  republic  of  Genoa  sent  out  in 


344  LOUIS  XIY. 


1684  a  fleet  to  chastise  the  Algerine  pirates ;  but  Louis  chose  to 
consider  it  intended  to  assist  Spain,  with  which  he  was  then 
at  war.  He  therefore  despatched  eight  thousand  men  in  a  fleet 
of  one  hundred  and  sixty  vessels,  and  bombarded  Genoa  on  the 
17th  and  18th  of  May  of  that  year.  In  accordance  with  the  terms 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  which  was  made  after  the  subjection  of  the 
city,  the  doge,  Francesco  Maria  Lecaro,  visited  Versailles,  May 
15,  1685,  to  humbly  apologize,  on  behalf  of  Genoa,  for  an  insult 
of  which  the  republic  was  guiltless.  He  was  received  with  great 
ceremony,  and  treated  with  the  elaborate  courtesy  of  which  the 
French  monarch  was  capable.  After  a  banquet  given  to  the 
doge  and  his  councillors,  the  king  accompanied  Lecaro  in  a  walk 
through  the  magnificently  arranged  park  of  the  chateau,  and 
displayed  the  treasures  of  his  menagerie  and  stables.  At  the 
close  of  an  exhibition  of  fireworks,  Louis  turned  to  his  guest, 
and  asked  him  what  surprised  him  most  of  all  that  he  had  wit- 
nessed. "  To  see  myself  here  "  (C'esi  de  m'y  uoz'r),  was  the  reply. 

Nee  pluribus  impar. 

The  motto  of  the  device  Louis  XIV.  is  said  to  have  adopted, 
of  the  rising  sun  casting  his  rays  upon  the  earth.  Its  meaning- 
has  been  variously  surmised,  "  I  shine  on  more  worlds  than  one  " 
being  a  not  unnatural  signification.  Fournier,  however,  denies 
that  either  the  device  or  the  motto  originated  with  the  king;  but 
asserts  that  they  were  contrived  by  the  antiquary  Douvrier,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  famous  Carrousel,  in  the  space  between  the 
Louvre  and  the  Tuileries,  which  has  retained  the  name  of  the 
festival.  It  was,  besides,  an  old  device  of  Philip  II.  of  Spain, 
who  reigned  over  parts  of  two  hemispheres,  and  had  more  right 
than  the  monarch  of  a  single  kingdom  to  compare  himself  with 
the  sun. 

Whatever  may  have  been  its  origin,  it  led  to  a  celebrated 
toast,  which  has  been  ascribed  to  several  different  persons. 
During  the  war  between  England,  France,  and  Holland,  in 
1702-9,  the  ambassador  of  France  to  a  neutral  power  proposed  at 
a  banquet  the  health  of  Louis  XIV.,  alluding  to  him  as  the  rising 
sun ;  the  representative  of  Queen  Anne  drank  to  the  moon ; 
the  Dutch  minister,  mindful  of  the  fact  that  his  country  dis- 
puted with  England  the  supremacy  of  the  seas,  and,  by  breaking 


LOUIS  XIV.  345 


the  dikes,  had  caused  the  army  of  the  Great  King  to  retreat,  pro- 
posed "Holland,  like  Joshua,  who  commanded  the  sun  and  moon 
to  stand  still,  and  they  obeyed  him  !  "  According  to  another 
account,  Lord  Stair,  when  minister  from  England  to  Holland, 
gave  a  banquet,  at  which  France  was  toasted  as  the  sun,  and  the 
empress  Maria  Theresa  as  the  moon  and  stars  :  when  the  com- 
pany thought  that  nothing  was  left  for  his  country,  Lord  Stair 
proposed  "England,  who,  like  Joshua,  caused  the  solar  system 
to  pause."  A  third  version  gives  Franklin  credit  for  the  toast, 
when  the  treaty  had  been  signed  in  Paris  by  which  France  was 
set  against  England,  in  order  to  accomplish  the  independence  of 
America. 

Ultima  ratio  re  gum  (The  last  argument  of  kings). 

An  inscription  which  Louis  XIV.  ordered  engraved  on  cannon. 
Biichmann  cites  the  letter  of  an  officer  in  the  correspondence 
column  of  "  Ueber  Land  und  Meer,"  Dec.  17,  1865,  who  saw  in 
Mantua  cannon  having  the  same  inscription,  dated  1613,  twenty- 
five  years  before  the  birth  of  the  French  king.  Frederick  the 
Great  wrote  to  his  brother,  Prince  Henry,  April  21, 1759 :  "  Don't 
forget  your  great  guns,  which  are  the  most  respectable  arguments 
of  the  rights  of  kings." 

The  National  Assembly,  wishing  to  recognize  neither  kings 
nor  war,  voted,  Aug.  19,  1790,  to  remove  from  the  cannon  the 
words  which  Louis  XIV.  had  caused  to  be  engraved  upon  them, 
Ultima  ratio  regum.  The  Assembly  removed  the  inscription,  and 
set  up  the  guillotine,  upon  which  might  have  been  inscribed 
Chamfort's  interpretation  of  the  motto  of  the  Republic,  "  Fra- 
ternite  ou  la  mort"  (y.  p.  Ill),  which  Lebrun  versified:  — 

"  L'aimable  siecle,  ou  1'hoinme  dit  a  I'liomine: 
'  Soyons  freres,  ou  je  t'assomme! '  " 

I  have  made  ten  discontented  and  one  ungrateful. 

The  king  was  accustomed  to  say,  when  he  made  an  appoint- 
ment to  office,  "J'aifait  dix  mecontents  et  un  inyrat." 

Two  sayings  may  illustrate  the  arrogant  tone  which  Louis 
could  assume  towards  foreign  powders.  When  the  Pope's  nuncio 
represented  to  him  that  many  sovereigns  had  renounced  privi- 
leges they  previously  enjoyed  at  Rome,  the  king  replied,  "  I  have 


346  LOUIS  XIY. 


never  governed  myself  by  the  example  of  another  :  it  is  for 
me  to  set  an  example  "  (Je  ne  me  suis  jamais  regie  sur  I'exemple 
d'autrui:  et  c'est  ct  moi  de  servir  d'exemple).  The  English  ambas- 
sador made  certain  suggestions  to  him  concerning  improvements 
at  Mardick  in  1714.  "  M.  V  Ambassadeur"  interrupted  the  king, 
"I  have  always  been  master  of  my  own  house,  sometimes  of 
another's :  do  not  call  it  to  mind  "  (J'ai  toujours  ete  le  maltre  chez 
moi,  quelques-fois  chez  les  autres :  qtion  ne  m'en  fasse  pas  souvenir). 
Voltaire,  however,  says  that  President  Renault  invented  this 
anecdote. 

Of  the  Huguenots  the  king  once  said,  "My  grandfather 
[Henry  IV.]  loved  them,  and  did  not  fear  them;  my  father 
[Louis  XIII. ]  loved  them  not,  and  feared  them  :  for  my  part,  I 
neither  love  nor  fear  them."  Pope  Pius  IX.  is  reported  to  have 
said  of  Lord  Clarendon,  Lord  Beaconsfield,  and  Mr.  Gladstone, 
"  I  like  the  first,  and  understand  him ;  I  like  the  second,  and  do 
not  understand  him:  I  neither  like  nor  understand  the  third." 

The  king  rebuked  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  who  jested  at 
supper  on  the  ugliness  of  an  officer  who  was  present,  by  saying 
to  her,  "I  think  him  one  of  the  handsomest  men  in  my  king- 
dom, for  he  is  one  of  the  bravest." 

He  remarked  of  the  Due  d'Orleans,  afterwards  regent,  "  He  is 
a  braggart  of  vices  he  does  not  possess  "  (Encore  est-il  fanfaron 
de  vices  quil  ria  point).  Benjamin  Constant  said  of  Mme.  Ril- 
liet,  "  She  has  all  the  virtues  which  she  affects." 

One  has  no  more  luck  at  our  age  (On  n'est  pas  heureux  a 
notre  age. ) 

To  Marshal  Villeroi,  on  his  return  from  the  disastrous  battle 
of  Ramillies,  which  he  lost  against  Marlborough  and  Prince 
Eugene,  May  23,  1706.  Villeroi  was  then  sixty-two  years  old, 
Louis  sixty-eight.  It  was  one  of  those  delicate  remarks  which 
the  king  knew  so  well  how  to  make,  and  which  sounded  almost 
like  a  compliment. 

As  the  great  Conde  wras  wralking  slowly,  from  the  effects  of 
gout,  up  the  grand  staircase  of  Versailles,  after  the  battle 
of  Seneffe,  which  he  fought,  Aug.  11,  1674,  against  William  of 
Orange,  afterwards  William  HI.  of  England,  he  exclaimed  to 
the  king  who  awaited  him  on  the  landing  above,  "  Sire,  I  crave 


LOUIS  XIV.  347 


your  Majesty's  pardon,  if  I  keep  you  waiting ;  "  to  which  Louis 
replied,  "  My  cousin,  do  not  hurry :  no  one  could  move  more 
quickly  who  was  loaded  with  laurels  as  you  are ! '  It  was  the 
language  of  courts.  When  Louis  XIV.  asked  Mignard,  who 
was  painting  his  portrait  for  the  tenth  time,  if  he  did  not  look 
older,  the  painter  concealed  the  truth  beneath  a  delicate  flattery: 
"  Sire,  it  is  true  that  I  see  some  more  victories  on  the  forehead 
of  your  Majesty ! "  Children,  even,  could  turn  a  compliment. 
The  Due  de  Maine,  son  of  Louis  XIV.,  once  congratulated  the 
king  by  saying  to  him,  "  Sire,  I  shall  never  learn  any  thing, 
for  my  tutor  gives  me  a  holiday  for  each  victory  of  your 
Majesty." 

Let  us  date  from  Mons. 

An  officer,  with  whom  the  king  had  been  dissatisfied,  distin- 
guished himself  at  Mons.  Meeting  him  soon  afterwards,  Louis 
forgave  the  past  by  saying,  " Datons  de  Mons" 

The  king  accepted  Boileau's  poetical  epistle  on  the  passage  of 
the  Rhine,  with  this  modest  remark :  "  It  is  a  fine  work,  and  I 
should  praise  you  more  if  you  had  praised  me  less  "  (Cela  est 
beau,  et  je  vous  louerais  davantage  si  vous  m'aviez  loue  moins).  "He 
who  first  assigned  this  phrase  to  Louis,"  says  Fournier,  "which 
Boileau  does  not  mention,  as  he  would  have  done  had  it  been 
addressed  to  him,  took  it  word  for  word  from  the  preface  of  the 
'Memoirs  '  of  Queen  Marguerite  [of  Navarre].  It  serves  as  the 
dedication  of  the  book  to  Brantome,  to  thank  him  for  the  eulo- 
gistic chapter  he  had  devoted  to  her  in  his  '  Dames  Illustres : ' 
lJe  louerais  davantage  vostre  ceuvre,'  she  said,  'si  elle  me  louoit 
moins.'  ' 

Another  saying  did  not  originate  with  the  king,  although  it 
may  have  taken  its  present  form  from  him.  He  remarked  of 
Maria  Theresa  of  Spain,  "Heaven  takes  from  me  a  wife  wrho 
has  never  given  me  any  other  grief  than  her  death  "  (Le  del  me 
prive  d'une  e'pouse,  qui  ne  m'a  jamais  donne  d'autre  chagrin  que  celui 
de  sa  mort).  The  thought,  if  not  the  grief,  was  borrowed  from 
the  poet  Maynard  :  — 

"  La  morte  que  tu  plains  fut  exempte  de  blame, 
Et  le  triste  accident  qui  termina  ses  jours 
Est  le  seul  deplaisir  qu'elle  a  mis  dans  ton  aine." 


348  LOUIS  XIV. 


There  are  no  more  Pyrenees ! 

By  the  will  of  Charles  II.,  King  of  Spain,  the  Due  d'Anjou, 
second  son  of  the  dauphin,  and  grandson  of  Louis  XIV.,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne  as  Philip  V.  In  giving  him  his  final  in- 
structions, Louis  said,  "  Be  a  good  Spaniard,  it  is  your  duty ;  but 
remember  that  you  are  French,  and  that  you  maintain  the  union 
of  the  two  countries  ;  "  embracing  him,  he  added,  "  77  rfy  a  plus 
de  Pyrenees."  "Why,''  asks  Fournier,  "should  Voltaire  have 
written  thus  ("  Age  of  Louis  XIV."),  when  he  might  have  found 
that  the  king  never  said  it?  It  is  a  Spanish  rather  than  a  French 
mot,  told  by  Dangeau,  a  courtier  who  followed  Philip  to  his  new 
kingdom,  as  the  remark  of  the  ambassador  of  Spain,  who  said 
that  the  journey  between  the  two  countries  would  be  easy,  as 
the  Pyrenees  were  now  melted  "  (les  Pyre'nees  e'taient  fondues).  — 
Journal  de  Dangeau,  VII.  449.  Malherbe,  years  before,  had  para- 
phrased the  mot  in  advance  when  celebrating  the  marriage  of 
Louis  XIII.  and  Anne  of  Austria  :  — 

"  Puis  quand  ces  deux  grands  hymenees, 
Dont  le  fatal  enibrassement 
Doit  aplanir  les  Pyrenees  .  .  .  ' 

According  to  the  "  Mercure  Volant,"  November,  1700,  p.  237, 
the  Spanish  ambassador  used  the  expression  afterwards  attrib- 
uted to  the  king;  for,  after  falling  at  the  feet  of  his  new  sovereign, 
and  kissing  his  hand,  his  eyes  being  filled  with  tears,  he  rose,  led 
forward  his  son  and  the  Spaniards  of  his  suite,  who  made  like- 
wise their  obeisance.  He  then  exclaimed,  "  What  joy !  il  n'y  a 
plus  de  Pyrenees :  they  are  uprooted,  and  we  are  henceforth  but 


one." 


"  Mountains  interposed 
Make  enemies  of  nations  who  had  else, 
Like  kindred  drops,  been  mingled  into  one." 

COWPER:  The  Task,  Bk.  II.  1. 

Xapoleon  gave  instructions  to  his  brother  Louis,  when  making 
him  king  of  Holland,  somewhat  similar  to  those  of  Louis  XIV.  : 
"  Your  first  duty  is  to  me,  your  second  to  France,  your  third  to 
your  people." 

The  king  also  said  to  his  grandson,  "  If  you  wish  to  have  your 
will  habitually  respected,  you  must  show  that  you  yourself  are  a 


LOUIS  XIV.  349 


slave  to  it."  Some  time  afterwards  he  was  urged  to  depose 
Philip  V.,  whose  accession  caused  the  long  war  of  the  Spanish 
succession  ;  but  he  replied,  "  If  1  must  wage  war,  I  should  rather 
wage  it  against  my  enemies  than  against  my  children." 

,1  imagined  it  was  more  difficult  to  die  (J'avais  cru  plus 
de  mourir). 


To  Mme.  de  Maintenon,  in  his  last  illness.  —  MARTIN:  History 
of  France,  XIV.  Bk.  91.  Sir  Harry  Vane  said  on  the  scaffold, 
in  1662,  "Why  should  we  shrink  from  death?  I  find  it  rather 
shrinks  from  me,  than  I  from  it  ;  "  and  again,  "  Death  is  but  a 
little  word,  but  'tis  a  great  work  to  die."  He  was  not  thinking 
of  it  in  its  physical  sense,  which  was  present  to  the  mind  of 
Mirabeau  when  he  wrote  in  his  last  hours,  "  It  is  not  so  difficult 
to  die."  The  Constable  de  Montmorenci  said  to  the  priest  after 
receiving  a  mortal  wound  at  St.  Denis,  in  1567,  "I  have  not  lived 
eighty  years  without  knowing  how  to  bear  dying  for  one-quarter 
of  an  hour."  Murat,  King  of  Naples,  said  on  the  scaffold,  Oct. 
13,  1815,  "  I  have  too  often  braved  death  to  fear  it." 

When  asked  if  he  suffered,  Louis  XIV.  is  said  to  have  replied, 
"  That  is  what  troubles  me  :  I  should  like  to  suffer  more  for  the 
expiation  of  my  sins." 

He  gave  this  piece  of  advice,  among  other  recommendations,  to 
the  child  who  was  soon  to  succeed  him  as  Louis  XV.  :  "  I  have 
loved  war  too  well  :  do  not  imitate  me  in  that  "  (J'ai  trop  aime 
la  guerre:  ne  m'imitez  pas  en  cela).  More  than  half  a  century 
now  separated  him  from  the  occasion  of  the  following  remark  : 
"  Self-aggrandizement  is  the  noblest  as  well  as  the  pleasantest 
occupation  of  kings." 

Mine,  de  Maintenon  had  reached,  at  the  time  of  the  king's 
death,  her  eightieth  year.  To  show  his  opinion  of  her  judgment 
and  good  sense,  Louis  once  said,  "  The  Pope  is  called  your 
Holiness;  kings,  your  Majesty;  princes,  your  Highness:  you, 
madame,  should  be  called  your  Solidity."  He  now  expressed  the 
hope  that  they  should  soon  meet  again  (nous  nous  verrons  bientof). 
She  made  him  no  answer,  but,  if  the  "  Chroniques  de  1'OEil  de 
Boeuf  "  are  to  be  believed,  exclaimed,  as  if  unconsciously,  when 
she  left  the  apartment,  "  A  pretty  rendezvous  he  has  given  me  ! 
That  man  has  never  loved  any  one  but  himself  "  (Voila  le  beau 


350  LOUIS  XVI. 


rendez-vous  qu'd  me  donne!  Cet  homme  n'a  jamais  aime  que  lui-meme). 
It  requires  a  better  authority  than  these  anonymous  chronicles 
to  fasten  to  the  memory  of  the  wife  of  Louis  XIV.  words  so 
heartless.  As  she  retired,  the  king  saw  in  an  opposite  mirror 
the  reflection  of  two  of  his  valets,  who  were  weeping  bitterly. 
"Why  do  you  weep?"  he  asked:  "did  you  think  that  I  was 
immortal?"  (Pourquoi pleurez-vous ?  m'avez-vous  cru  immortel?)  — 
MARTIN:  XIV.  91. 

At  the  termination  of  the  last  prayers,  in  which  he  joined 
audibly,  Louis  said  with  a  calm  voice.  "  These  are  the  last  favors 

*/  " 

of  the  Church;"  repeating  several  times,  "mine  et  in  hord  wortj.v," 
he  exclaimed,  "  O  my  God,  come  to  my  aid,  and  hasten  to  help 
me  !  "  He  never  spoke  again. 

His  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Massillon ;  who,  looking 
for  a  moment  upon  the  magnificent  draperies  and  insignia  of 
mourning  around  him,  and  thinking  of  the  title  the  deceased 
monarch  had  borne  even  during  life,  began  his  discourse  with 
the  simple  but  striking  words,  "God  alone  is  great,  my  breth- 
ren!" (Dieu  seul  est  grand,  mesfreres!) 

Napoleon  said  of  him,  "If  he  had  not  been  a  king,  he  would 
have  been  a  great  man."  Cardinal  Mazarin  prophesied  of  him 
in  his  minority,  "  He  will  be  a  great  king :  he  never  says  a  word 
of  what  he  thinks  "  (II  sera  un  grand  roi:  il  ne  dit  pas  mot  de  ce 
qiC'd  pense).  When  the  Marechal  de  Grammont  was  congratulat- 
ing Mazarin  on  the  prospect  of  long-enduring  power,  the  cardi- 
nal demurred:  "He  [Louis]  will  mature  late,  but  he  will  go 
further  than  the  rest :  he  has  the  material  for  four  kings  and 
one  honest  man  "  (II  y  a  en  lui  de  Vetoffe  pour  faire  quatre  rois  et 
un  honnete  homme').  Berryer  said  of  him,  "  He  came  too  late,  and 
went  away  too  soon." 

LOUIS  XVI. 

[King  of  France;  grandson  of  Louis  XV.;  born  at  Versailles,  Aug. 
23,  1754;  ascended  the  throne,  1774;  endeavored  with  the  aid  of 
Turgot  and  Necker  to  repair  the  state  of  the  finances;  assisted  the 
American  Colonies,  1778;  convoked  the  states-general,  1789;  after  the 
destruction  of  the  Bastille  in  that  year,  became  a  hostage  of  the  Revo- 
lution; attempted  to  escape,  June,  1791;  confined  in  the  Temple, 
1792;  tried  for  treason  by  the  Convention  in  September  of  that  year; 
convicted  and  executed,  Jan.  21,  1793.] 


LOUIS  XVI.  351 


O    God,  guide  us,  protect   us  !   we  are  too  young  to 
reign. 

The  words  with  which  Louis  and  Marie  Antoinette,  fall- 
ing upon  their  knees,  received  information  of  the  death  of 
Louis  XV. 

Alfred  the  Great,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  England, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  A.  D.  871,  exclaimed,  "  O  Lord  my 
God,  thou  hast  made  thy  servant  king :  and  I  am  but  a  little 
child ;  I  know  not  how  to  go  out  nor  to  come  in  "  (1  Kings  iii  7). 

We  do  not  look  to  the  reign  of  Louis  XVI.  for  happy  mots, 
more  than  to  that  of  his  predecessor.  The  popularity  which 
earlier  French  kings  had  gained  from  their  witticisms  was  denied 
to  the  silent,  indolent,  and  timid  Louis  XV.,  and  to  his  grand- 
son, who  possessed  but  little  presence  of  mind,  and  what  has 
been  called  "the  secret  of  the  apropos."  The  former  disdained 
to  attempt  the  exercise  of  a  talent  he  did  not  possess ;  the  latter, 
conscious  of  his  inferiority,  and  of  the  importance  of  the  quali- 
ties which  were  lacking  in  him,  endeavored  to  supply  their  place 
by  employing  a  maker  of  bons  mots,  a  vicarious  bel  esprit,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  guess  what  might  be  said  to  the  king  on  any 
particular  occasion,  and  improvise  an  answer.  This  officer,  the 
Marquis  de  Pezay,  gave  the  king  lessons  in  the  form  of  letters 
consisting  of  dialogues  which  contained  the  question  and  the 
reply  in  advance.  Thus  he  wrote  :  "  Your  Majesty  will  soon 
attend  the  races  :  you  will  observe  a  notary  who  will  write  down 
the  wagers  of  the  Comte  d'Artois  and  the  Due  d' Orleans.  Say, 
when  you  see  them,  sire,  «  Why  this  man  ?  Why  writing  be- 
tween gentlemen  ?  Is  not  their  word  sufficient  ? '  The  Prince 
de  Ligne  tells  the  story  in  his  "  Memoirs  : "  "  It  happened  ex- 
actly as  suggested.  I  was  there,  and  heard  it.  Everybody  said, 
'  How  just !  What  a  fine  mot  !  What  a  king  we  have  ! ' 

Only  Turgot  and  I  love  the  people. 

When  told,  in  1776,  that  Parliament  was  preparing  a  remon- 
strance against  taxes,  corve'es,  etc.,  after  the  privileged  classes 
had  caused  the  fall  of  "  the  one  legislator  who  might  have  saved 
France,"  the  king  replied,  "Je  vois  lien  qu'il  ny  a  que  M.  Tur- 
got et  moi  qui  aime  le  peuple"  Louis  XV.  said  in  March,  1766, 


352  LOUIS  XVI. 


in  opposition  to  a  decree  of  Parliament,  "  I  and  my  people  are 
one."  At  a  later  period,  when  the  States-General  adopted  a 
series  of  thirty-five  articles  upon  the  financial  situation,  Louis 
XArL  said,  "  If  they  do  not  have  the  desired  effect,  I  will  save 
my  people  alone  "  (seul  je  ferai  le  bien  de  mon  peuple)  ;  meaning, 
according  to  Carlyle,  to  soon  dismiss  the  deputies. 

AArhen  Malesherbes  resigned,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  impos- 
sible to  do  any  good,  thwarted,  as  he  continually  had  been,  by 
the  intrigues  of  the  court,  the  king  asked,  "  Must  I  also  resign  ?  " 
(//  faut  done  que  je  quitte  aussi  ma  place?}  or,  as  it  is  sometimes 
given,  "  I  am  more  unfortunate  than  the  ministers  :  I  cannot 
resign."  Nevertheless,  amid  all  the  changes  of  the  cabinet,  the 
king  wished  honestly,  though  weakly,  to  serve  the  people,  at 
the  expense  sometimes  of  his  personal  dignity ;  saying  on  such 
occasions,  "  Let  my  authority  suffer,  if  my  people  are  happy " 
(Que  m' import e  que  mon  autorite  soujfre,  ])ourvu  que  mon  peuple  soit 
heureux). 

AAlien  the  Due  de  Luxembourg  advised  him  to  set  the  Third 
Estate  (Tiers  Etat),  or  popular  branch  of  the  States-General,  in 
opposition  to  the  other  two  orders,  the  nobility  and  clergy,  Louis 
refused  by  saying,  "  My  mind  is  made  up  :  I  will  not  permit  a 
single  person  to  perish  on  my  account."  At  this  time  no  sacri- 
fice was  too  great  for  him  :  he  said  with  truth  that  "  never  king 
did  so  much  for  his  subjects  as  I  have  done  for  mine  ;  but  what 
other  could  so  well  deserve  it  as  the  people  of  France?" 

The  king  was  once  holding  a  candle  for  a  page  who  was  look- 
ing for  a  piece  of  gold  which  had  fallen  upon  the  floor,  where- 
upon the  Prince  de  Conde  threw  down  a  handful  of  pieces. 
"You  can  do  that,"  said  Louis,  "but  I  live  on  my  subjects." 
Even  as  late  as  1792,  when  the  king  was  a  prisoner,  he  could 
say,  "  How  soon  would  all  these  chagrins  be  forgotten  on  the 
slightest  return  of  their  affection  !  " 

Sire,  it  is  not  a  revolt :  it  is  a  revolution. 

AVhen  the  king  was  told  of  the  attack  upon  the  Bastille  on 
the  night  of  July  14,  1789,  he  exclaimed,  "  AAThy,  it  is  a  revolt !  " 
(Mais,  c'est  une  revolte  /)  The  Due  de  Rochefoucauld-Liancourt 
"  more  truly  knew  that  peal  too  well ;  "  and  for  the  first  time  the 
king  heard  the  fatal  word,  "revolution."  A^oltaire  had  already 


LOUIS  XVI.  353 


used  it  in  correspondence.  He  wrote  to  M.  de  Chauvelin,  April 
2,  1764,  twelve  days  before  the  death  of  Mine,  de  Pompadour : 
"  Everywhere  are  being  sown  the  seeds  of  a  revolution  which 
will  spring  up  without  fail,  but  which  I  shall  never  behold.  The 
light  is  spreading  so  universally,  that  it  will  on  the  slightest 
occasion  burst  forth  into  flame  ;  and  then  we  shall  have  a  fine 
fuss.  I  envy  the  young:  they  will  see  something  worth  look- 
ing at." 

However  mild  the  king  may  have  been  by  nature,  and  un- 
suited  to  vigorous  action,  he  was  not  without  a  high  degree  of 
moral  courage.  He  used  no  protection  against  the  ruffians  by 
whom  he  was  often  surrounded ;  and,  when  the  queen  advised 
him  to  wear  a  bullet-proof  breastplate,  he  replied,  "  They  will 
not  assassinate  me,  but  put  me  to  death  as  king,  in  open  day- 
light." In  the  terrible  insurrection  of  1792,  he  appeared  on  the 
balcony  of  the  palace,  and,  in  obedience  to  the  demand  of  the 
mob,  put  upon  his  head  the  cap  of  liberty.  One  of  the  guards 
told  him  not  to  fear.  "  Fear  !  "  replied  the  king,  "feel  whether 
this  is  the  beating  of  a  heart  agitated  by  fear  !  " 

In  the  testament  which  he  made,  Dec.  25,  1792,  he  wrote, 
"  I  recommend  my  son,  if  he  has  the  misfortune  to  become 
king,  to  remember  that  he  owes  himself  to  the  happiness  of  his 
people."  His  son  had  no  opportunity  of  carrying  out  his  father's 
wishes,  but  one  word  casts  a  light  through  the  gloom  of  the 
prison  upon  the  dauphin's  character.  When  asked  by  Simon, 
his  brutal  keeper,  what  he  would  do  with  him  if  he  came  to  the 
throne,  he  replied,  "I  would  pardon  you." 

Son  of  St.  Louis,  ascend  to  heaven. 

The  king  made  some  resistance  as  his  hands  were  being 
fastened  behind  his  back,  before  his  head  was  laid  under  the 
knife.  He  yielded,  however,  to  the  persuasions  of  his  confessor, 
saying,  "  Do  what  you  will :  it  is  the  last  sacrifice  "  (Faites  ce  que 
vous  voudrez  :  c'est  le  dernier  sacrifice).  His  last  words  were  a 
prayer  for  his  people :  "  May  my  blood  cement  your  happiness !  " 
(Puisse  mon  sang  cimenter  votre  bonheur .') 

"  As  the  knife  fell,  my  grandfather  could  hear  the  voice  of  the 
priest  pronouncing  these  words,  '  Son  of  St.  Louis,  ascend  to 
heaven '  "  (Fils  de  St.  Louis,  montez  au  del}  :  thus  writes  Henri 


354  LOUIS  XVIII. 


Sanson,  in  the  biography  of  the  five  generations  of  that  family, 
who  were  the  executioners  of  Paris,  himself  being  the  last.  He 
quotes  on  this  subject  a  statement  made  by  his  grandfather, 
who,  if  later  accounts  be  true,  never  heard  the  words,  which  were 
only  invented  after  the  execution.  Charles  His,  editor  of  the 
"  Republican!  Francais,"  was  supposed  to  have  originated  the 
mot  on  the  evening  of  the  king's  death.  Charles  de  Lacretelle, 
another  journalist,  claimed  its  authorship  in  an  account  which 
he  wrote  for  almost  the  only  newspaper  "  where  an  interest  in 
the  august  victim  was  manifested."  —  Dix  Annees  d'Epreuves, 
1842,  131.  This  journal  may  have  been  the  "Republican! 
Franc. ais."  The  words  soon  spread  through  Paris,  and  were 
translated,  in  the  accounts  of  the  king's  execution,  into  foreign 
languages.  The  Abbe  Edgeworth,  the  king's  confessor,  was  one 
of  the  last  to  learn  what  he  had  said  on  this  historic  occasion. 
Questioned  in  regard  to  it  at  a  later  period,  he  could  neither 
affirm  nor  deny  that  he  had  used  the  expression  now  indissolubly 
connected  with  his  name.  It  was  possible,  he  said,  that  he 
might  have  done  so,  without  remembering  it ;  for  he  retained 
no  recollection  of  any  thing  that  happened  to  himself  at  that 
moment.  —  LORD  HOLLAND  :  Diplomatic  Recollections,  1851. 
What  he  did  remember  was  saying  to  the  king  as  they  were 
about  to  tie  his  hands,  "Sire,  it  is  still  another  sacrifice  you  have 
to  make  to  complete  your  resemblance  to  your  divine  Model." 
Mile.  Edgeworth,  in  a  letter  written  to  a  friend,  Feb.  10,  1793, 
which  was  afterwards  published,  makes  no  mention  of  the  words 
in  question  :  "  My  friend,''  as  she  calls  her  brother,  "received  his 
[the  king's]  last  sighs,  and  neither  died  nor  fainted  with  grief: 
he  even  had  strength  to  fall  upon  his  knees,  and  remain  in  that 
attitude  until  his  clothes  were  stained  with  the  blood  of  that 
sacred  head,  which  was  carried  about  on  the  scaffold,  to  the  cry 
of  '  Vice  la  nation  !  ' 

LOUIS  XVIII. 

[King  of  France,  brother  of  Louis  XVI.;  born  at  Versailles,  No- 
vember, 1755;  emigrated,  1791;  ascended  the  throne  on  the  fall  of 
Napoleon,  April,  1814;  retired  to  Ghent  on  the  return  of  the  emperor 
from  Elba,  but  was  restored  by  the  allied  armies,  July,  1815;  sent  ail 
army  to  Spain,  1823;  died  September,  1824.] 


LOUIS  XVIII.  •">  •"»'"> 


Punctuality  is  the  politeness  of  kings  (L' exactitude  est  la 
politesse  des  rois). 

The  best  known  of  the  king's  sayings.  Louis  XIV.  was  also 
punctual;  though  Fournier  doubts  whether  he  uttered  the  im- 
plied reproof,  when,  on  one  occasion,  his  carriage  did  not  appear 
at  the  appointed  moment:  "  I  almost  waited  "  (J*aifailli  attend ff ). 
"  Impatience  and  vivacity  of  temper,"  says  this  critic  of  royal 
mots,  "  hardly  form  part  of  the  idea  one  forms  of  Louis  XIV." 
Larousse,  however,  finds  it  the  expression  of  the  hauteur  of  one 
of  the  proudest  of  monarchs.  —  Fleurs  Historiques.  Neither 
hauteur  nor  vindictiveness  formed  part  of  the  character  of  Louis 
XVIII.  When  urged  to  give  his  support  to  a  plan  to  assassi- 
nate the  Emperor  Napoleon,  he  answered,  "In  my  family  we  are 
murdered,  but  we  never  commit  murder  ;  "  and  he  remarked  of 
the  returned  c'tnif/re's,  who  "  had  learned  nothing  and  forgotten 
nothing,"  "They  are  more  royalist  than  royalty  itself"  (plus 
royalistes  que  le  rot). 

He  said  to  his  newly  married  nephew  and  niece,  the  Due  and 
Duchesse  d'Angouleme,  "  Were  my  crown  a  crown  of  roses,  how 
gladly  would  I  give  it  to  you :  but  it  is  a  crown  of  thorns,  and  I 
keep  it." 

When  Marshal  Bliicher  wished  to  destroy  the  Pont  de  Jena 
in  Paris,  the  name  of  which  recalled  Prussia's  greatest  disas- 
ter, the  king  dryly  observed,  "  Better  take  the  bridge  with  you, 
than  throw  it  into  the  Seine."  Another  answer,  "  I  will  have 
myself  carried  on  to  it,  and  we  will  blow  up  together"  (Je  in'if 
ferai  porter,  et  nous  sauterons  ensemble),  was  the  invention  of  the 
Count  Beugnot,  who  wrote  for  Charles  X. :  "  There  is  only  one- 
Frenchman  more  "  (y.  p.  122).  The  count  claimed  it  in  his 
"Memoirs,"  1866,  312,  and  says  that  "the  king  might  have  been 
at  first  a  little  frightened  at  the  mot  put  into  his  mouth ;  but  he 
soon  accepted  the  renown  it  gave  him,  with  a  good  grace.  I 
have  heard  him  complimented  on  this  admirable  evidence  of 
courage,  and  he  replied  with  perfect  assurance." 

A  king  should  die  standing. 

Another  aphorism  which  the  king  probably  did  not  utter,  — 
an  imitation  of  Vespasian's,  "  An  emperor  ought  to  die  stand- 


3-36  LOUIS  PHILIPPE  I. 

ing "  (Decet  imperatorem  stantem  mori).  —  SUETONIUS:  Life.  The 
emperor  attended  to  the  despatch  of  business  in  his  last  illness, 
and  even  received  ambassadors  in  bed;  but  at  "last,  feeling  his 
strength  failing,  he  made  an  effort  to  rise,  and,  causing  himself 
to  be  dressed,  expired  in  the  arms  of  his  officers.  So  Louis 
XVIII.  continued  to  show  himself  in  public,  although  daily 
losing  strength.  On  the  anniversary  of  St.  Louis,  Aug.  25, 1824, 
when  advised  not  to  hold  his  usual  reception,  he  replied,  "  A 
king  of  France  dies,  but  ought  never  to  be  ill "(  Un  rot  de  France 
meurt,  mais  il  ne  doit  pas  etre  malade).  Distrust  "  last  words,"  is 
Fournier's  advice,  who  says  that  the  old  king's  death  was  of  the 
most  silent  character. 

The  French  Ana,  however,  attribute  to  him  a  pun;  for,  when 
he  saw  by  the  faces  of  his  attendants  that  there  was  no  more 
hope,  he  said,  alluding  to  his  successor  Charles,  "A lions,  foiissons- 
en,  Charle  attend  [charlatans  !].  When  Maria  Theresa  was  asked, 
shortly  before  her  death,  to  take  a  sleeping-potion,  she  replied, 
"I  could  sleep,  but  I  must  not:  Death  is  too  near;  he  must  not 
steal  upon  me ;  these  fifteen  years  [since  her  husband's  death]  I 
have  been  waiting  for  him;  I  will  meet  him  awake."  —  CAR- 
LYLE  :  Frederick  the  Great,  XXI.  8. 

LOUIS  PHILIPPE  I, 

[King  of  the  French;  son  of  Philip  Egalite,  Due  d'Orleans;  born  in 
Paris,  Oct.  6,  1773;  travelled  in  the  United  States,  1796;  returned  to 
France  with  the  Bourbons;  proclaimed  king  on  the  fall  of  that 
house,  July,  1830;  made  conquests  in  Algeria;  opposed  electoral  re- 
form, which  led  to  the  revolution  of  1848,  when  the  king  abdicated 
and  retired  to  England,  where  he  died,  August,  1850.] 

Le  juste  milieu. 

In  an  address  to  the  deputies  of  Gaillac,  after  his  accession 
to  the  throne,  Louis  Philippe  said,  "We  shall  endeavor  to  main- 
tain the  proper  mean  (le  juste  milieu),  equally  removed  from  the 
abuse  of  royal  power,  and  the  excesses  of  popular  power."  This 
recalls  the  maxim  of  Cleobulus,  one  of  thQ  "  Seven  Wise  Men," 
king  of  Lindus,  in  Rhodes,  in  the  sixth  century  B.C. :  "  Keep  the 
golden  mean "  (uptarov  /zerpov) ;  the  aurea  mediocritas  of  Hor- 
ace :  — 


LUCIUS  LUCULLUS.  357 

"  He  that  holds  fast  the  golden  mean, 
And  lives  contentedly  between 

The  little  and  the  great, 
Feels  not  the  wants  that  pinch  the  poor, 
Nor  plagues  that  haunt  the  rich  man's  door." 

Odes,  II.  10,  5. 

Although  the  phrase,  le  juste  milieu,  gave  a  name  to  the  mod- 
erate and  pacific  policy  of  the  "  citizen  king,"  it  did  not  originate 
with  him,  but  first  occurs  in  a  letter  of  Voltaire  to  Count 
d'Argental,  Nov.  28,  1765. 

On  being  appointed  lieutenant-general  of  the  army,  immedi- 
ately before  the  revolution  of  July,  the  Due  d'Orleans  issued  a 
proclamation,  which,  referring  to  the  source  of  disagreement 
between  the  French  people  and  their  rulers  since  the  Restora- 
tion, that  the  charters  granted  by  the  kings  were  not  observed 
by  them,  declared,  "  The  charter  shall  henceforth  be  a  verity  " 
(La  cliarte  sera  de'sormais  une  verite').  It  wras  surreptitiously 
altered  by  the  government,  so  as  to  read  in  general  terms,  "  A 
charter  shall  henceforth  be  a  verity."  Better  known  out  of 
France  are  the  words  entente  cordiale,  which  were  used  by  Louis 
Philippe  in  a  speech  from  the  throne  in  January,  1843,  to  express 
the  friendly  relations  existing  between  France  and  England 
during  Guizot's  administration  of  foreign  affairs,  after  his  resi- 
dence in  England  as  ambassador  in  1840. 

LUCIUS  LUCULLUS. 

[A  Roman  general;  born  about  110  B.C.;  consul,  74;  defeated 
Mithridates,  73,  and  drove  him  from  Pontus;  defeated  Tigran^s, 
king  of  Armenia,  68;  superseded  by  Pompey,  66;  retired  to  private 
life,  and  spent  his  immense  fortune  in  sumptuous  entertainments 
and  the  patronage  of  the  arts;  died  57  or  56  B.C.J 

Lucullus  sups  with  Lucullus. 

When  he  once  happened  to  sup  alone,  and  saw  but  one  table 
and  a  very  moderate  provision,  he  called  the  servant  who  had 
the  charge  of  these  matters,  and  expressed  his  dissatisfaction. 
The  servant  said  he  thought,  as  nobody  was  invited,  his  master 
would  not  want  an  expensive  supper.  "  What !  "  said  the  lat- 
ter, "  didst  thou  not  know  that  this  evening  Lucullus  sups  with 


358  MARTIN  LUTHER. 


Lucullus  ?  "  When  this  answer  was  talked  of  in  Rome,  Cicero 
and  Pompey  invited  themselves  to  sup  with  him  on  condition 
that  he  should  give  them  nothing  but  what  was  provided  for 
himself.  Lucullus,  on  his  part,  asked  permission  to  tell  one  of 
his  servants  that  he  should  sup  that  evening  in  the  Apollo,  one 
of  his  most  magnificent  rooms.  The  stated  charge  for  an  enter- 
tainment in  the  Apollo  was  fifty  thousand  drachmas ;  and  the 
whole  su»m  was  laid  out  on  that  evening's  repast,  without  further 
orders.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

At  another  time  he  entertained  some  Greek  travellers,  who  at 
length  desired  to  be  allowed  to  depart  on  account  of  the  daily 
expense  they  brought  upon  their  host.  He  smiled,  and  said,  "It 
is  true,  my  Grecian  friends,  some  part  of  this  provision  is  for 
you ;  but  the  greatest  part  is  for  Lucullus."  —  Ibid. 

A  bloodless  victory. 

When  he  found  that  he  could  cut  off  Mithridates,  who  had 
posted  himself  on  Mount  Adrastia,  Lucullus  told  his  army, 
which  had  intrenched  itself  in  a  village  near  by,  "  In  a  few 
days  I  shall  gain  you  a  victory  which  shall  not  cost  one  drop 
of  blood." 

During  the  war  with  Tigranes,  his  army  appeared  ridiculously 
small  to  the  Armenian  king,  who  said.  "  If  the  Romans  come  as 
ambassadors,  there  are  too  many  of  them  ;  if  as  soldiers,  too 
few."  But  Lucullus,  when  warned  not  to  fight  on  that  day, 
which  had  been  an  inauspicious  one  for  Rome,  as  the  anni- 
versary of  Csepio's  defeat  by  the  Cimbri,  Oct.  6,  105  B.C., 
replied,  "I  will  make  this  day  an  auspicious  one  for  Rome." 
Tigranes  was  defeated  with  the  loss  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men,  whom  the  Romans  despised  as  slaves :  Lucullus  had  but 
one  man  killed,  and  one  hundred  wounded.  —  Ibid. 

MARTIN  LUTHER. 

[Born  at  Eisleben,  Saxony,  Nov.  10,  1483;  studied  at  Erfurt,  where 
he  became  an  Augustinian  monk ;  professor  of  philosophy  at  Witten- 
berg, 1508;  visited  Rome,  1510;  opposed  the  sale  and  doctrine  of 
indulgences,  1517;  appeared  before  the  Diet  of  Worms,  April  16, 1521; 
concealed  in  the  Wartburg  until  March,  1522;  translated  the  Bible, 
1522-1534;  died  Feb.  18,  1546.] 


MARTIN  LUTHER.  3,31) 

Were  there  as  many  devils  in  Worms  as  tiles  upon 
the  roofs  of  the  houses,  still  would  I  enter  (Wenn  so 
viel  Teufel  zu  Worms  waren  als  Ziegel  cwf  den  Dachern,  so  wolW 
ich  Jdnein). 

To  the  messenger  of  Spalatin,  the  secretary  and  confidential 
adviser  of  the  Elector  Frederick,  Luther's  protector,  exhorting 
the  reformer  on  no  account  to  enter  A\7"orms,  even  with  the 
emperor's  safe-conduct.  Luther  wrote  from  Eisenach  in  1521 : 
"  We  shall  enter  Worms  in  spite  of  all  the  councils  of  hell,  and 
all  the  powers  of  the  air"  (Intrabimus  Wormaiiam  inuitis  omnibus 
portis  infernis  et  potestatibus  aeris).  He  also  wrote  to  the  Elector 
Frederick  after  leaving  the  Wartburg,  in  1522,  that  he  would 
have  entered  Worms  had  there  been  as  many  devils  as  tiles  on 
the  roofs. 

As  Luther  entered  the  Diet,  his  friend  George  von  Freunds- 
berg  said  to  him,  "My  poor  monk,  thou  hast  a  march  and  a 
struggle  to  go  through,  such  as  neither  I  nor  many  other  captains 
have  seen  the  like  in  our  most  bloody  battles.  But  if  thy  cause 
be  just,  and  thou  art  sure  of  it,  go  forward  in  God's  name,  and 
fear  nothing."  —  "God  will  be  my  defence,"  was  the  monk's 
answer. 

When  asked  in  the  Diet  if  he  would  not  retract  his  opinions, 
he  replied,  "  Here  I  stand ;  I  cannot  do  otherwise :  God  help 
me."  These  words  are  inscribed  upon  the  monument  erected  to 
him  in  Worms  in  1868.  His  position  before  Charles  V.  was  the 
same  which  he  had  taken  in  the  year  1516,  when  he  said  of 
Tetzel's  method  of  attracting  attention  to  his  sale  of  indulgences, 
"I  will  make  a  hole  in  that  drum." 

He  bore  impatiently  the  friendly  imprisonment  to  which  he 
was  subjected  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  saying,  "I  would  rather 
be  stretched  on  burning  coals  than  stagnate  here  half  dead ' 
(Mallem  inter  carbones  vivos  ardere,  quam  solus  semivivus,  atque 
utinam  non  mortuus,  putere). 

I  fear   two   things,    epicurism    and    enthusiasm,    two 
schisms  yet  to  come. 

Of  the  re-action  and  excesses  of  reform. 

He  exclaimed  when  Pope  Clement  VII.  summoned  the  Council 
of  Augsburg,  in  1526,  "O  Pope,  if  I  live  I  shall  be  a  pestilence 


360  HENRY  LUTTRELL. 

to  thee,  and  if  I  die  I  shall  be  thy  death !  "  But  he  could  also 
say,  "  When  I  am  dead  the  papists  will  find  out  how  temperate 
an  adversary  I  have  been  to  them  ;  "  and  the  Emperor  Maximil- 
ian I.  wrote  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony :  "  Take  care  of  the 
monk  Luther,  for  a  time  may  come  when  we  may  have  need 
of  him." 

To  pray  well  is  the  better  half  of  study  (Fleissig  gebet  ist 
iiber  die  Hdlfte  studirt). 

This,  and  the  following,  are  from  Luther's  "  Table  Talk." 

To  rise  betimes,  and  to  marry  young,  are  what  no  man  ever 
repents  of  doing. 

It  is  no  more  possible  to  do  without  a  wife  than  it  is  to  dis- 
pense with  eating  and  drinking.  [Thales,  being  asked  at  what 
time  a  man  should  marry,  replied,  "  Young  men,  not  yet ;  old 
men,  not  at  all."] 

God  knows  all  trades  better  than  the  most  accomplished 
artisan  here  below. 

If  a  man  be  not  handsome  at  twenty,  strong  at  thirty,  learned 
at  forty,  and  rich  at  fifty,  he  will  never  be. 

God  made  the  priest :  the  Devil  set  about  an  imitation ;  but  he 
made  the  tonsure  too  large,  and  produced  a  monk. 

That  little  bird  has  chosen  his  shelter,  and  is  quietly  rocking 
himself  to  sleep  without  a  care  for  to-morrow's  lodging,  calmly 
holding  by  his  little  twig,  and  leaving  God  to  think  for  him. 

The  human  heart  is  like  a  millstone  in  a  mill :  when  you  put 
wheat  under  it,  it  turns  and  grinds  and  bruises  the  wheat  to 
flour.  If  you  put  no  wheat,  it  still  grinds  on;  but  then  'tis  itself 
it  grinds  and  wears  away. 

An  idle  priest,  instead  of  reciting  his  breviary,  used  to  run 
over  the  alphabet,  and  then  say,  "  O  my  God,  take  this  alpha- 
bet, and  put  it  together  how  you  will." 

There  is  no  gown  or  garment  that  worse  becomes  a  woman 
than  when  she  will  be  wise. 


HENRY  LUTTRELL. 

["  A  wit  among  lords  and  a  lord  among  wits;  "  the  friend  of  Rogers, 
Sydney  Smith,  Lord  Holland,  etc.;  poet,  wit,  and  author;  born  1770; 
wrote  "  Memoirs  of  Tom  Moore;  "  died  1851.] 


DUG   DE  LUXEMBOURG.  3d 

I  dislike  monkeys:    they  always  remind  me  of  poor 
relations. 

He  also  said,  "  Mr. 's  face  always  reminds  me  of  boiled 

mutton  and  poor  relations.5' 

When  asked  if  Mr. was  not  on  one  occasion  very  dis- 
agreeable, he  replied,  "  He  was  as  disagreeable  as  the  occasion 
would  admit." 

Tom  Moore  said  of  an  acquaintance,  that  the  dye  of  his  old 
trade  of  a  hatter  had  become  ingrained  in  his  face;  "Darkness 
that  may  befell,"  remarked  Luttrell. 

His  illustration  of  English  climate  was,  "  On  a  fine  day,  look- 
ing up  a  chimney;  on  a  rainy  day,  like  looking  down  it."  One 
foreigner  remarked  of  London  that  "it  has  weather,  but  no  cli- 
mate ;  "  and  another,  that  it  had  "nine  months  winter,  and  bad 
weather  the  rest  of  the  year." 

Samuel  Rogers  said  of  Luttrell  and  Sydney  Smith,  "  After 
Luttrell,  you  remember  the  good  things  he  said ;  after  Smith, 
you  merely  remember  how  much  you  laughed." 

Of  a  female  aeronaut,  who,  when  last  seen,  was  still  ascending, 
Luttrell  suggested,  "  Handed  out  by  Enoch  and  Elijah." 

"When  told  that  the  Bishop  of  would  be  present  at  a  cer- 
tain dinner-party  to  which  he  was  himself  invited,  he  objected : 
"  I  do  not  mix  wTell  with  the  dean,  but  I  shall  positively  effer- 
vesce with  the  bishop." 

He  was  told  by  Lady  Holland  to  make  room  at  table  for  a 
late  comer :  "  Certainly,"  he  replied,  "  it  must  be  made,  for  it 
does  not  exist." 

DUC  DE  LUXEMBOURG. 

[Francois  Henri  de  Montmorenci,  a  French  general;  born  in  Paris, 
1628;  served  with  his  cousin  Conde  against  France,  1653-59;  pardoned 
"by  Louis  XIV.,  he  invaded  Holland,  1672;  marshal  of  France,  1675; 
defeated  William  III.  at  Steenkerke  and  Neerwiiiden,  1691-95;  died 
January,  1695.] 

He  has  never  seen  my  back. 

Luxembourg,  like  Prince  Eugene,  was  not  favored  by  nature 
for  the  great  part  he  was  to  play.  When  he  heard  that  his  rival 
William  III.  of  England,  had  called  him  a  humpback,  he  replied, 


362  LYCURGUS. 


"  How  can  he  know  that,  when  he  has  never  seen  my  back, 
although  1  have  often  seen  his  ?  ' 

LYCURGUS. 

[The  Spartan  lawgiver;  lived,  according  to  Aristotle,  more  than 
850  B.C.;  refusing  the  crown  he  had  inherited,  lie  visited  foreign 
countries,  and  returned  to  Sparta,  making  many  radical  changes 
in  the  social  and  political  system;  having  imposed  a  strong  aristo- 
cratic constitution,  by  which  domestic  affairs  were  regulated  by  the 
state,  he  obtained  from  the  people  an  oath  that  they  would  not  alter 
his  laws  during  his  absence;  and  went  into  exile,  from  which  he 
never  returned.] 

Try  it  in  your  own  households. 

When  some  one  recommended  democracy  to  him,  and  advised 
him  to  establish  it  in  Sparta-  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

To  those  who  asked  whether  they  should  enclose  Sparta  in 
walls,  he  said,  "  That  city  is  well  fortified  which  has  a  wall  of 
men  instead  of  brick." 

The  Spartans  let  their  hair  grow  long,  because  Lycurgus  said, 
"  A  large  head  of  hair  makes  the  handsome  more  graceful,  and 
the  ugly  more  terrible."  —  Ibid. 

LYSANDEB. 

[A  Spartan  general;  gained  a  naval  victory  over  the  Athenians, 
407  B.C.;  and  at  ^gospotami,  405;  captured  Athens,  and  established 
the  Thirty  Tyrants,  404,  killed  in  battle  by  the  Thebans,  395  B.C.] 

Where  the  lion's  skin  will  not  reach,  it  must  be  pieced 
out  with  the  fox's. 

When  blamed  for  resorting  to  stratagem,  unworthy  a  descend- 
ant of  Hercules.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Laconic  Apothegms. 

Dionysius  sent  Lysander's  daughters  some  rich  Sicilian  gar- 
ments, which  he  refused,  saying  he  was  afraid  "these  fine  clothes 
will  make  them  look  more  homely;'  but  while  on  an  embassy 
to  Sicily,  Dionysius  offered  him  two  vests,  that  he  might  give 
one  to  his  daughter;  upon  which  he  said,  "  She  will  know  bet- 
ter how  to  choose  than  I,"  and  took  them  both.  —  PLUTARCH  : 
Life. 


LORD  LYTTELTON.  363 

LOUD  LYTTELTON. 

[George,  first  Baron  Lyttelton,  an  English  author  and  statesman; 
born  170i>;  entered  Parliament,  1730;  lord  of  the  treasury,  1744;  chan- 
cellor of  the  exchequer,  1756;  died  1773.] 

I  am  in  the  wrong  box. 

He  was  of  so  melancholy  a  disposition,  that,  whenever  he  went 
to  the  theatre,  he  said  he  was  always  in  the  wrong  box  to  be 
happy.  It  is,  however,  an  old  proverb. 

"  That  man,"  said  Dr.  Johnson  of  Lord  Lyttelton,  "sat  down 
to  write  a  book  ["Dialogues  of  the  Dead"],  to  tell  the  world 
what  the  world  had  all  his  life  been  telling  him." 

LOUD  LYTTON. 

[Edward  George  Earle  Lytton-Bulwer,  first  Lord  Lytton,  the  Eng- 
lish novelist;  born  in  Norfolkshire,  1805;  educated  at  Cambridge; 
published  "  Falkland,"  1827,  and  many  popular  romances  until  1861; 
entered  Parliament,  1831;  colonial  secretary,  1858;  raised  to  the  peer- 
age, 1866;  died  Jan.  18,  1872.] 

A  reform  is  a  correction  of  abuses :  a  revolution  is  a 
transfer  of  power. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  Reform  Bill  of  1866.  He 
said  of  Lord  Palmerston's  Reform  Bill,  in  1860,  "  Democracy  is 
like  the  grave  :  it  never  gives  back  what  it  receives."  Demo- 
cratic institutions,  in  his  opinion,  were  only  fitted  to  the  youth 
of  nations,  like  colonies;  and  when  any  gentleman  recommended 
the  example  of  a  colony  to  the  ancient  monarchy  of  England,  "I 
can  only  say  that  he  has  not  studied  the  horn-book  of  legisla- 
tion." He  referred  to  Athens,  which  was  well  aware  that  dem- 
ocracy could  not  long  co-exist  with  great  inequalities  of  wealth 
and  power;  "  they  therefore  began  by  ostracising  the  powerful, 
to  end  by  persecuting  the  wealthy." 

LOUD  MACAU  LAY. 

[Thomas  Babington  Macaulay;  born  Oct.  25,  1800;  educated  at 

Cambridge;    entered    Parliament,    1830;    member    of   the    Supreme 

Council  of  India,  1835-38;  member  for  Edinburgh,  and  secretary  at 

war,  on  his  return;  paymaster-general,  1846;  published  his  "  History 

of  England,"  1848-55;  raised  to  the  peerage,  1857;  died  Dec.  28, 1859.] 


364  SIR  JAMES  MACKINTOSH. 

.Exeter  Hall  sets  up  its  bray. 

In  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  April,  1845,  on  the 
second  reading  of  the  Maynooth  College  bill,  Macaulay  described 
the  indignation  of  the  ultra-Protestants  at  Sir  Robert  Peel's  pro- 
posal to  endow  a  Roman-Catholic  college.  "  The  natural  conse- 
quences," he  said,  "  follow  such  a  course.  The  Orangeman 
raises  his  war-whoop ;  Exeter  Hall  [the  scene  of  '  May  meetings,' 
particularly  of  the  Evangelical  party]  sets  up  its  bray.  .  .  .  But 
what  did  you  expect?  Did  you  think,  when,  to  serve  your  turn, 
you  called  the  Devil  up,  that  it  was  as  easy  to  lay  him  as  to  raise 
him  ?  "  The  expression  was  remembered  at  the  general  election 
of  1847,  and  Macaulay  lost  his  seat.  The  gain  to  the  world  was 
the  "  History  of  England." 

It  is  not  easy  to  make  a  simile  go  on  all-fours. 

A  translation  from  Sir  Edward  Coke's  "Institutes:"  "  Nullwn 
simile  quatuor  pedibus  currit." 

The  remark  of  Sydney  Smith  on  Macaulay  is  well  known : 
"His  enemies  might  perhaps  have  said  before  (though  I  never  did 
so),  that  he  talks  rather  too  much  ;  but  now  he  has  occasional 
flashes  of  silence,  that  make  his  conversation  perfectly  delight- 
ful ; "  and  he  said  at  another  time,  "  To  take  Macaulay  out  of 
literature  and  society,  and  put  him  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
is  like  taking  the  chief  physician  out  of  London  during  a  pesti- 
lence." On  another  occasion  he  called  him  "a  book  in  breeches." 
Being  asked,  during  a  severe  illness,  what  sort  of  a  night  he  had 
passed,  Sydney  Smith  replied,  "  Oh,  horrid,  horrid !  I  dreamt 
I  was  chained  to  a  rock,  and  being  talked  to  death  by  Har- 
riet Martineau  and  Macaulay."  William  Windham  once  said, 
"I  wish  I  was  as  sure  of  any  thing  as  Macaulay  is  of  every 
thing." 

SIR  JAMES  MACKINTOSH. 

[A  British  author  and  statesman;  born  near  Inverness,  Oct.  24, 
1765;  educated  at  Aberdeen,  and  studied  medicine;  answered  Burke 
by  the  "  Vindicire  Gallicre,"  1791;  abandoned  medicine  for  the  law, 
1795;  recorder  of  Bombay,  1804,  and  judge,  1806;  entered  Parliament, 
1813;  professor  of  law  and  politics  in  Haileybury  College;  died  May, 
1832,  leaving  unfinished  his  "  History  of  the  Revolution  of  1U88."] 


MARSHAL  MACMAHON.  365 

Instead  of  quarrelling  with  our  views,  he  should  have 
said  that  he  did  not  like  our  prospects. 

To  Lord  John  Russell,  of  the  remark  of  Copley  [Lord  Lynd- 
hurst]  when  solicitor-general,  in  a  speech  on  the  Blasphemous 
Libel  Bill  of  1819,  that  during  his  short  parliamentary  experi- 
ence he  had  seen  nothing  in  the  views  of  the  Whigs  to  induce 
him  to  join  them.  — JENNINGS  :  Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament. 

"How  is  it,"  Mackintosh  was  once  asked,  "I  never  hear  a 
word  about  the  blessings  of  liberty,  and  the  glory  of  the  British 
Constitution,  in  your  debates  ?  "  —  "  Because  we  take  all  that  for 
granted,"  was  the  reply.  —  Ibid. 

You  are  the  advance  guard  of  liberty. 

To  the  jury  in  the  case  of  Peltier,  a  French  emigrant,  who 
was  tried  for  a  libel  on  Napoleon,  defended  with  great  forensic 
ability  by  Mackintosh,  and  acquitted. 

Of  Mackintosh's  encyclopaedic  learning,  the  Rev.  Robert  Hall, 
his  college  companion  and  friend  in  later  life,  said,  "I  have 
been  with  Mackintosh  this  morning ;  but  0  sir,  it  was  like  the 
Euphrates  pouring  itself  into  a  teacup." 

MARSHAL  MACMAHON. 

[Marie  Edrne  Patrice  Maurice,  Due  de  Magenta;  a  French  gen- 
eral of  Irish  extraction;  bom  1808;  served  in  Algeria,  1830-50;  in  the 
Crimean  War  and  the  Italian  campaign  of  1859,  when  he  was  made 
marshal  and  duke;  defeated  by  the  Germans  at  Worth,  and  wounded 
and  taken  prisoner  at  Sedan,  1870;  President  of  the  French  Republic, 
1875-79.] 

J'y  suis,  fy  restemi. 

After  MacMahon  had  taken  the  Malakoff  by  assault,  Sept.  8, 
1855,  during  the  siege  of  Sebastopol,  Gen.  Pelissier,  the  French 
commander-in-chief,  sent  him  word  to  beware  of  an  explosion 
which  might  follow  the  retreat  of  the  Russians.  His  reply  was, 
"I  am  here,  I  shall  remain  here."  Victor  Emmanuel  used  the 
same  expression,  of  the  occupation  of  Rome  by  the  Italian  army, 
and  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  government  from  Florence  to 
that  city,  September,  1870. 


3GG  MADAME  DE  MAINTENON. 

MADAME  DE  MAINTENON. 

[Francoise  d'Aubigne',  Marquise  de  Maintenon;  born  of  French 
Calvinist  parents,  1G35;  married  Scarron  the  poet,  1652;  governess 
of  the  Due  de  Maine,  son  of  Louis  XIV.,  1670;  was  secretly  married 
to  the  king,  1685,  over  whom  she  gained  a  complete  ascendency; 
founded  a  school  for  girls  at  St.  Cyr;  died  1719.] 

I  always  send  him  away  in  sorrow,  never  in  despair 

(Je  le  renvoie  toujours  ciffliye,  et  jamais  desespere). 

Of  the  suit  of  Louis  XIV.  The  principle  which  governed  her 
relations  to  the  king  is  shown  by  her  maxim,  "  Nothing  is  more 
adroit  than  irreproachable  conduct"  (Rien  n'est plus  adroit  qu'une 
conduite  irreprochdble).  "It  was  the  web  of  Penelope,"  says 
Sainte-Beuve,  "which  was  to  last  eleven  years."  Another  of 
her  maxims  was,  that  ' '  delicacy  is  to  love  what  grace  is  to 
beauty." 

When,  however,  she  had  attained  the  highest  position  her 
ambition  could  have  envied,  she  showed  by  many  remarks,  — 
•which  she  does  not  seem  to  have  made  in  confidence,  —  how 
hollow  was  the  grandeur  of  the  unacknowledged  wife  of  Louis 
XIV.  On  one  occasion,  after  her  social  position  had  been  im- 
proved by  her  appointment  at  court,  she  was  told  that  the  carp 
languished  and  died  in  the  clear  water  of  the  fountains  of  Ver- 
sailles. "  They  are  like  me,"  she  said  :  "they  regret  their  mud  " 
(Elles  sont  comme  moi:  dies  regrettent  leur  bourbe).  At  another 
time  she  compared  her  opulence  at  Versailles  to  her  previous 
misery :  "  I  do  not  find  my  bed  better  than  my  cradle  "  (Je  ne 
trouve  pas  mon  lit  meilleur  que  mon  berceau). 

In  a  letter  to  her  brother  in  1684,  the  year  before  she  succeeded 
in  extorting  a  secret  marriage  from  the  king,  she  said,  "  Save 
those  who  fill  the  highest  stations,  I  know  of  none  more  unfor- 
tunate than  those  who  envy  them." 

"  None  think  the  great  unhappy,  but  the  great." 

YOUNG:  Love  of  Fame,  Satire  I.  238. 

Mme.  de  Maintenon  never  forgot  her  origin,  although  her 
manner  was  marked  by  an  extreme  dignity.  She  once  showed, 
however,  signs  of  fatigue  in  her  old  age  on  a  state  occasion  at 
St.  Cyr,  when  it  was  remarked  that  she  did  not  bear  herself  like 


MALESHEKBES.  3G7 


the  great ;  she  replied,  "  I  am  not  great,  but  simply  elevated " 
(Je  ne  suis  pas  grand  e,  je  suis  settlement  e  levee).  But  at  another 
time  she  refused  to  allow  a  screen  to  be  placed  before  her  as  a 
protection  from  the  cold,  because  the  king  would  be  offended  at 
that  lack  of  ceremonious  appearance:  "We  must  perish  sym- 
metrically," she  said  (//  faut  pe'rir  en  syme'trie). 

She  may  have  found  the  ennui  of  the  ceremonious  ritual  of 
court  life  less  tolerable  than  the  straitness  of  the  house  of  Scar- 
ron,  or  the  humiliation  of  a  pensioner  of  Anne  of  Austria.  The 
secret  of  many  a  life  of  gilded  wretchedness  is  disclosed  by  such 
a  remark  as  this  of  Mine,  de  Maintenon  :  "  Philosophy  may  raise 
us  above  grandeur,  but  nothing  can  elevate  us  above  the  ennui 
•which  accompanies  it."  The  task  she  had  undertaken,  when 
Louis  XIV.  had  grown  old  and  fretful,  would  have  been  im- 
possible to  one  endowed  with  less  tact  and  versatility.  "  I  have 
seen  her,"  said  Mile.  d'Aumale,  "divert  the  king  by  a  thousand 
inventions  for  four  hours  together,  without  repetition,  yawning, 
or  slander."  "  But  it  is  a  sad  task."  Mme.  de  Maintenon  once 
exclaimed  to  her  brother,  "to  amuse  a  king  who  is  no  longer 
amusable !  "  (quelle  corvee  d*  avoir  a  amuser  un  homme  qui  rfest  plus 
(unusable  .')  All  the  comfort  she  received  from  her  complaint 
was  the  reply,  "Did  you  promise  to  marry  the  Almighty?'1 
(Avez-vous  done  promis  (Tepouser  Dieu  le  Pere  ?) 

MALESHERBES. 

[Chretien  Guillaume  de  Lamoignon-Malesherbes,  a  French  judge 
and  philanthropist;  born  in  Paris,  1721;  president  of  the  "  Cour  ties 
Aides,"  1750;  censor  of  books,  1750-08;  minister  of  the  king's  house- 
hold and  of  police,  1775;  resigned  with  Turgot;  member  of  the 
Academy;  counsel  for  Louis  XVI.;  executed  April,  1794.] 

Contempt  of  life. 

When  asked  what  made  him  so  bold  as  to  use  the  words 
"sire,"  and  "your  majesty,"  in  addressing  Louis  XVI.  on  his 
trial,  after  the  Convention  had  proscribed  the  use  of  such  expres- 
sions, he  replied,  "  Scorn  of  you,  and  contempt  of  life  "  (Mon 
mc'pris  de  vous  et  de  la  vie).  He  accepted  the  perilous  service  of 
defending  the  king  with  the  words  :  "  I  was  twice  called  to  the 
council  of  him  who  wras  my  master,  when  all  the  world  coveted 


368  MALHERBE. 


the  honor ;  and  I  owe  him  the  same  service  now,  when  it  has 
become  one  which  many  reckon  dangerous." 

When  leaving  prison  for  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  where 
he  was  to  receive  sentence,  he  made  a  mis-step,  and  remarked, 
"It  is  a  bad  sign  :  a  Roman  would  have  turned  back  "  (C'est  de 
mauuais  augure :  un  romain  serait  rentre  chez  lui).  The  sentence 
was  death.  Lockhart  ("  Lifo  of  Napoleon ")  puts  the  same 
words  into  the  mouth  of  Napoleon,  whose  horse  stumbled  and 
threw  him  to  the  ground,  as  he  was  about  to  cross  the  Xiemen, 
on  the  expedition  to  Russia,  June  24,  1812. 

MALHERBE. 

[Fran£ois  de  Malherbe,  a  French  lyric  poet;  born  at  Caen,  about 
1555;  served  in  the  League;  composed  his  first  work,  1587;  enjoyed 
the  patronage  of  Henry  IV.;  died  1G28.] 

Improve  your  style,  sir !    You  have  disgusted  me  with 
the  joys  of  heaven. 

On  his  death-bed,  to  a  priest  who  spoke  with  more  earnestness 
than  elegance.  An  hour  before  his  death,  he  roused  himself  to 
correct  his  nurse's  grammar. 

The  Marquis  de  Favras,  a  French  officer  who  was  executed  on 
a  charge  of  conspiracy,  in  1790,  said  to  the  sheriff  who  showed 
him  the  sentence  of  death,  "  You  have  made  three  mistakes  in 
spelling"  (Fous  avez  fait,  monsieur,  trois  fautex  dj autographs). 
Victor  Hugo  quotes  it  verbatim  in  "  Marion  Delorme,"  V.  7, 
where  Saverney  corrects  the  mistakes,  and  signs  his  name  to  his 
own  death-warrant. 

Rameau,  the  French  musical  composer,  fatigued  with  the  long 
discourse  with  which  the  priest  accompanied  the  last  offices, 
found  strength  enough  to  ask,  "What  is  all  that  you  are  singing 
to  me  out  of  tune  ?"  (Que  (liable  venez-vous  me  chanter  la?  Vous 
avez  la  voix  fausse  /)  It  was  Rameau,  who,  in  a  visit  to  a  belle 
dame,  threw  her  lap-dog  out  of  the  window,  because  he  barked 
out  of  tune. 

Duclos,  a  witty  French  writer,  dismissed  a  tiresome  cure  named 
Chapeau,  with  a  pun  on  his  name :  "I  came  into  the  world  with- 
out breeches :  I  can  leave  it  without  chapeau! ''  (Je  suis  venu  au 
monde  sans  culotte  :  je  m'en  irai  bien  sans  chapeau .') 


MARIA  MANCINI.  3G9 


MARIA  MANCINI. 

[A  niece  of  Cardinal  Mazarin;  born  in  Eome,  1640;  attracted  the 
attention  of  Louis  XIV.,  who  wished  to  marry  her,  hut  was  prevented 
by  her  uncle;  after  marrying  Prince  Colonna,  she  obtained  a  divorce 
from  him,  and  became  a  nun;  died  about  1715.] 

You  weep,  and  you  are  the  master ! 

This  saying  relates  to  an  episode  in  the  early  life  of  Louis 
XIV.,  his  love-affair  with  the  beautiful  niece  of  Cardinal  Mazarin. 
There  is  no  doubt  of  the  sincere  attachment  of  the  king,  who 
made  serious  proposals  for  her  hand.  For  the  moment  Mazarin 
was  dazzled  by  the  prospect  of  an  alliance  of  which  history  would 
have  afforded  no  parallel.  That  moment  passed,  he  sacrificed 
his  personal  interests  to  those  of  the  kingdom,  which  demanded 
the  alliance  with  Spain,  by  the  marriage  of  Louis  XIY.  to  Maria 
Theresa,  daughter  of  Philip  IV.  Mazarin,  therefore,  compelled 
his  niece  to  leave  the  court,  and  romance  has  embellished  her  de- 
parture. According  to  the  accounts  common  to  the  contemporary 
memoirs,  Maria,  in  her  despair,  turned  to  the  king  for  the  .last 
time,  and  said,  "You  love  me;  you  are  king;  and  I  go."  In  a 
romance  of  the  period,  "  Le  Palais  Royal,"  1680,  Louis  is  seen 
throwing  himself  at  the  feet  of  the  cardinal,  crying,  and  calling 
him  father ;  while  the  niece,  turning  back  as  she  stepped  into 
the  carriage,  says  to  her  lover,  who  seems  more  dead  than  alive, 
with  the  first  grief  of  his  life :  "  You  weep  ;  you  are  king ;  and 
yet  I  am  unhappy,  and  I  go."  The  novel  dryly  adds,  "  The 
king  really  came  near  dying  for  grief  at  this  separation  ;  but  he 
was  young,  and  in  the  end  consoled  himself,  according  to  all 
appearance."  The  memoirs  of  Mme.  de  Motteville  reduce  the 
scene  to  its  correct  limits:  "Their  parting  was  not  without 
tears,  his  as  well  as  hers;  nor  could  he  be  indifferent  to  the 
words  she  could  not  refrain  from  uttering,  as  it  is  said :  '  You 
weep,  and  you  are  the  master ! '  '  ( Vous  pleurez,  et  vous  etes  le 
mctitre .') 

Racine,  composing  by  order  the  tragedy  of  "  Berenice  "  to  cele- 
brate the  catastrophe  of  another  affair  of  Louis  XIV.,  thought  it 
apropos  to  recall  to  the  monarch  his  earliest  passion ;  and  in- 
serted the  famous  phrase,  at  the  expense,  says  Fournier,  of  a 
very  bad  line.  Thus  in  Act  IV.,  Scene  5,  Berenice,  who  repre- 


370  LORD  MANSFIELD. 


sented  both  Maria  Mancini  and  Henrietta  of  England,  says  to 
Titus,  the  Roman  Louis,  — 

"  Vous  etes  ernpereur.  Seigneur,  et  vous  pleurez!  " 

LOUD  MANSFIELD. 

[William  Murray,  Earl  of  Mansfield,  a  British  lawyer  and  orator; 
"born  at  Perth,  Scotland,  1704;  educated  at  Oxford;  called  to  the  bar, 
1731;  solicitor-general,  1743,  and  entered  Parliament;  attorney-gen- 
eral, 1754;  chief-justice  of  the  King's  Bench  for  more  than  thirty 
years  from  1750;  raised  to  the  peerage  in  that  year;  died  1793.] 

The  air  of  England  has  long  been  too  pure  for  a  slave, 
and  every  man  is  free  who  breathes  it. 

In  the  case  of  James  Somersett,  a  negro,  who  was  carried 
from  Africa  to  Jamaica,  and  sold  there.  Being  brought  by  his 
master  to  England,  he  claimed  his  freedom  by  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus ;  and,  after  a  hearing  before  the  lord  chief  justice,  was 
discharged.  "  Every  man,"  said  Mansfield,  "  who  comes  into 
England,  is  entitled  to  the  protection  of  English  law,  whatever 
oppression  he  may  heretofore  have  suffered,  and  whatever  may 
be  the  color  of  his  skin  :  — 

'  Quainvis  ille  niger,  quamvis  tu  candidus.'  " 

20  State  Trials,  1. 
Cowper  versified  the  decision  :  — 

"  Slaves  cannot  breathe  in  England;  if  their  lungs 
Receive  our  air,  that  moment  they  are  free; 
They  touch  our  country,  and  their  shackles  fall." 

The  Task,  II.  40. 

Chief-Justice  Taney,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  giving  the  opinion  of  the  court  adverse  to  the  petition 
of  Dred  Scott,  a  slave  who  had  been  carried  by  his  master  from 
Missouri  into  Illinois,  thence  to  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin,  and 
back  to  Missouri,  asserted  that  "  for  more  than  a  century  before 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  negroes  had  been  regarded 
as  beings  of  an  inferior  order,  and  altogether  unfit  to  associate 
with  the  white  race  either  in  social  or  political  relations,  and  so 
far  inferior  that  they  had  no  rights  which  the  white  man  was 
bound  to  respect." 


LORD  MANSFIELD.  371 


The  greater  the  truth,  the  greater  the  libel. 

A  maxim  of  the  law  in  vogue  at  the  time  of  the  English 
trials  for  malicious  libel,  while  Mansfield  presided  over  the 
King's  Bench,  but  not  to  be  found  ipsissimis  verbis  in  any  of  his 
published  decisions.  Mr.  Christian,  in  a  note  to  "Blackstone's 
Commentaries,"  IV.  150,  says,  "  The  words  of  Lord  Mansfield, 
'The  greater  truth,  the  greater  libel,'  which  his  enemies  wished 
with  much  eagerness  to  convert  to  the  prejudice  of  that  noble 
peer's  reputation  as  a  judge,  were  founded  in  principle  and  sup- 
ported by  very  ancient  authority."  The  maxim  is  said  to  have 
originated  in  the  Star  Chamber.  Chancellor  Kent,  in  People  v. 
Creswell,  3  Johnson,  363,  says,  "  The  prohibition  to  the  defend- 
ant, in  criminal  proceedings,  to  give  the  truth  of  an  alleged  libel 
in  evidence,  first  received  authoritative  sanction  in  a  court  of 
common  law  by  the  nisi  prius  decision  of  Lord  Raymond  in  1731, 
in  Francklyn's  case,  17  State  Trials,  626.  The  doctrine  never 
extended  in  its  scope  beyond  criminal  cases."  In  the  report  of 
the  nisi  prius  case  of  The  King  v.  Woodhull,  20  State  Trials, 
902,  Lord  Mansfield  said  to  the  jury,  "My  brother  Glynn  has 
admitted  that  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  a  libel,  whether  public 
or  private,  however  prosecuted,  is  out  of  the  question."  "At 
this  assertion  of  Lord  Mansfield,"  the  report  adds,  "every  man 
in  court  was  shocked.  Serjeant  Glynn  was  astonished,  and,  on 
application  made  to  him  instantly  by  several  of  the  counsel  and 
his  friends  to  contradict  Lord  Mansfield's  assertion,  Mr.  Glynn, 
with  that  honest  diffidence  natural  to  him,  asked  them,  '  Good 
God  !  did  I  admit  any  thing  like  what  Lord  Mansfield  says  ? 
Did  I,  in  any  incorrectness  in  the  expression,  or  by  any  mistake, 
use  words  that  could  be  so  misunderstood  or  misinterpreted  ?  ' 
From  the  lord  chief  justice's  words  in  this  or  in  some  other 
and  unreported  nisi  prius  case,  the  doctrine  of  that  day  may  have 
become  attached  to  his  name,  as  a  doggerel  verse  shows  to  have 
been  the  case  :  — 

"  old  Mansfield,  who  writes  like  the  Bible, 
Says,  '  The  more  'tis  a  truth,  sir,  the  more  'tis  a  libel.' ' 

Lord  Campbell,  in  his  "Life  of  Mansfield,"  reviewing  the  cele- 
brated criminal  libel  trials  of  this  time,  says,  "  For  half  a  cen- 
tury longer  the  maxim  prevailed,  *  The  greater  the  truth,  the 


372  LORD  MAXSFIELD. 


greater  the  libel/  until  the  passage  of  Campbell's  Libel  Bill, 
1845,  permitting  the  truth  to  be  given  in  evidence,  and  refer- 
ring it  to  the  jury  to  decide  whether  the  defendant  was  actuated 
by  malice  or  not." 

Justitia  fiat,  mat  ccelum. 

In  the  case  of  John  Wilkes,  1768,  Lord  Mansfield,  reversing 
the  sentence  of  outlawry  passed  upon  Wilkes  in  his  absence,  for 
writing  and  publishing  Xo.  45  of  "  The  Xorth  Briton  "  in  1764, 
said,  "  The  constitution  does  not  allow  reasons  of  state  to  influ- 
ence our  judgment.  God  forbid  it  should  !  We  must  not  regard 
political  consequences,  however  formidable  they  might  be  ;  if 
rebellion  was  the  certain  consequence,  we  are  bound  to  say, 
'  Justitia  fat,  mat  ccelum.''''  These  words  are  placed  in  quotation- 
marks  in  the  printed  report  of  the  case  ;  but  their  origin  is 
unknown.  Wherever  used,  even  before  Mansfield's  time,  they 
appear  without  the  sanction  of  a  name.  The  Emperor  Ferdi- 
nand I.,  brother  and  successor  of  Charles  V.,  had  a  motto,  the 
authorship  of  which  contemporaries  attributed  to  him,  —  "  Fiat 
justitia,  pereat  mundus" — which,  like  Mansfield's  quotation,  may 
be  translated,  "Let  justice  be  done,  though  the  heavens  fall;" 
and  Luther  had  a  maxim,  "  Law  must  take  its  course,  though 
the  heavens  fall"  (Z)a.^  Reclit  muss  selnen  Gang  Jiaben,  und  sollte 
die  Welt  darilber  zu  Grunde  gelieri).  "Do  well  and  right,  and  let 
the  world  sink,"  says  George  Herbert  ("  Country  Parson,"  chap, 
xxix.).  A  line  of  Corneille  has  been  already  quoted  (v.  p.  35), — 

"  Tombe  que  moi  le  ciel,"  etc. 

Joseph  Jekyll,  the  writty  barrister,  declined  an  invitation  to 
dine  at  Lansdowne  House,  because  he  was  engaged  to  meet  the 
judges.  During  dinner,  part  of  the  ceiling  of  the  dining-room 
of  Lansdowne  House  fell  down  :  Jekyll,  wThen  explaining  his 
absence,  said,  "  I  was  asked  to  ruat  ccelum,  but  dined  instead 
with  fat  justitia."  —  Oddities  of  the  Law. 

In  the  same  case  of  The  King  v.  AVilkes,  Mansfield  said, 
"  But  it  is  that  popularity  which  follows,  not  that  which  is 
run  after ;  it  is  that  popularity  which,  sooner  or  later,  never 
fails  to  do  justice  to  the  pursuit  of  noble  ends  by  noble 


means." 


MARAT.  373 


Abaft  the  binnacle. 

During  the  trial  of  a  case  of  collision  between  two  ships  at 
sea,  a  sailor  testified  that  at  the  time  specified  he  was  standing 
"abaft  the  binnacle."  Mansfield  asked  him  where  the  binnacle 
was ;  at  which  the  witness,  who  had  been  taking  a  large  share 
of  grog  before  coming  into  court,  exclaimed,  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  by  all  present,  "  A  pretty  fellow  to  be  a  judge,  who  does 
not  know  where  abaft  the  binnacle  is  ! "  Lord  Mansfield  re- 
plied, without  threatening  to  commit  him  for  contempt,  "Well, 
my  friend,  fit  me  for  my  office  by  telling  me  where  abaft  the 
binnacle  is  :  you  have  already  shown  me  the  meaning  of  '  half- 
seas  over.'  "  —  CAMPBELL  :  Life. 

When  Sir  Fletcher  Norton,  who  was  noted  for  his  want  of 
courtesy,  said  in  a  case  before  the  Chief  Justice,  "My  lord,  I 
can  illustrate  the  point  in  my  own  person :  I  myself  have  two 
little  manors"  "We  all  know  that,  Sir  Fletcher,"  interrupted 
Mansfield. 

He  translated  numine  salus,  which  a  quack  had  put  upon  his 
carriage,  "  God  bless  the  patient." 

To  an  army  officer,  appointed  governor  of  a  West  India  island, 
and  obliged  to  administer  justice,  Lord  Mansfield  gave  the  fol- 
lowing advice  :  "  Decide  promptly,  but  never  give  any  reasons. 
Your  decisions  may  be  right,  but  your  reasons  are  sure  to  be 
wrong." 

Dr.  Johnson  said  of  Mansfield,  that  it  was  wonderful  "  with 
how  little  real  superiority  of  mind  men  can  make  an  eminent 
figure  in  public  life."  He  accounted  for  the  success  of  the 
polished  Murray,  who  "drank  champagne  with  the  wits,"  to 
his  English  education  (v.  p.  294).  Pope  gives  him  a  flattering 
line :  — 

"  How  sweet  an  Ovid,  Murray  was  our  boast !  " 

Lunciad,  IV.  169. 

JEAN  PAUL  M ATI  AT. 

[A  Jacobin  demagogue,  born  near  Neuchatel,  1744;  practised 
medicine  in  Paris  before  the  Revolution;  member  of  the  Convention, 
and  formed  with  Danton  and  Robespierre  the  triumvirate  of  the 
Reign  of  Terror;  was  the  most  determined  enemy  of  the  Royalists 
aud  the  Girondists;  assassinated  by  Charlotte  Corday,  July,  1791!.] 


374  MARAT. 


When  Marat  dies,  Paris  dies :  when  Paris  dies,  the 
republic  will  be  no  more  (Le  jour  ou  Marat  mourra,  il  n'y 
aura  plus  de  Paris  ;  et  le  jour  ou  Paris  perira,  il  rfy  aura  plus  de 
republique}. 

To  some  one  who  cried  in  the  Convention,  May,  1793,  "  Death 
to  Marat!"  The  majority  of  the  Convention  ordered  Marat's 
arrest  for  outrages  committed  against  that  assembly.  He  was, 
however,  acquitted  by  the  Revolutionary  Tribunal,  and  escorted 
back  to  the  Convention  by  the  mob.  He  uttered  a  probably 
unconscious  parody  of  the  prophecy  of  the  pilgrims  to  the  Eter- 
nal City,  recorded  by  the  Venerable  Bede,  and  expressed  in 
Byron's  familiar  verse:  — 

"  While  stands  the  Coliseum,  Rome  shall  stand; 
AYhen  falls  the  Coliseum,  Rome  shall  fall; 
And  when  Rome  falls  —  the  world." 

Childe  Harold,  IV.  145. 

Give  me  two  hundred  Neapolitans  armed  with  dag- 
gers, and  only  a  muff  on  their  left  arms  for  a  buckler, 
and  with  them  I  will  overrun  France,  and  accomplish 
the  Revolution. 

To  Barbaroux  (in  1791),  who  had  been  his  pupil.  "Were  it 
not  singular,"  asks  Carlyle  ("French  Revolution"),  "if  this  dirk- 
and-muff  plan  of  his  (with  superficial  modifications)  should  be 
precisely  the  plan  adopted  ?  " 

Landed  but  yesterday  on  an  unknown  island,  we 
must  now  burn  the  ship  which  brought  us  to  it 
(Abordes  d'hier  dans  une  He  nouvelle,  it  faut  bruler  maintenant  le 
vaisseau  qui  nous  a  conduits). 

Voting  for  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.  The  act  of  burning  one's 
ships  dates  from  ancient  times.  Agathocles,  tyrant  of  Syracuse, 
whose  expedition  against  Carthage,  310-307  B.C.,  gave  rise  to 
the  expression,  "To  carry  the  war  into  Africa,"  destroyed  the 
ships  which  had  conveyed  his  army  thither;  Julian  the  Apostate 
fired  his  magazines  and  eleven  hundred  vessels  in  the  Tigris, 
whence  he  began  his  march  against  Sapor,  King  of  Persia,  363 
B.C. ;  Robert  Guiscard  burned  his  fleet  and  baggage,  and  then 
defeated  the  Greek  Emperor  Alexius  at  Durazzo,  A.D.  10S4 ; 


MARIE   ANTOINETTE.  375 

and  Cortez  gave  a  proverbial  character  to  a  similar  action  on 
the  coast  of  Mexico  in  1519. 

MARIE  ANTOINETTE. 

[Daughter  of  the  Emperor  Francis  I.  and  Maria  Theresa;  horn  in 
Vienna,  1755;  married  the  Dauphin  of  France  afterwards  Louis  XVI., 
1770;  volatile  and  fond  of  pleasure  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  she 
displayed  the  greatest  courage  and  dignity  during  the  Revolution, 
until  her  execution,  October,  1793.] 

Tis  the  first  beat  of  the  drum,  of  ill  omen  for  France : 
this  noblesse  will  ruin  us. 

To  Mme.  Campan,  "raising  her  eyes  to  heaven,"  when  Louis 
XVI.  summoned  the  States-General,  Aug.  8, 1793,  to  meet  in  the 
following  May. 

That  the  queen  felt  no  resentment  towards  the  leaders  of  the 
revolution,  certainly  before  the  massacre  of  September,  is  shown 
by  her  reply  to  the  judges  of  the  Chatelet,  who  interrogated  her 
concerning  the  outrages  committed  in  her  presence  during  the 
removal  of  the  royal  family  by  the  mob  from  Versailles  to  Paris 
in  1790,  such  as  holding  up  to  the  carriages  the  heads  of  generals 
slain  in  their  service,  etc.  "  I  saw  every  thing,  and  have  forgot- 
ten every  thing  "  (J'ai  tout  vu,  et  tout  oublie),  was  her  reply.  But 
to  her  brother,  the  Emperor  Joseph  II.,  she  wrote  in  1791,  amid 
even  darker  scenes:  "Is  it  fated  that  I,  with  the  blood  I  am  come 
of,  with  the  sentiments  I  have,  must  live  and  die  among  such 
mortals  ?  " 

Her  cry,  "I  appeal  to  all  mothers!  "  when  accused  of  unnat- 
ural crimes  by  her  judges,  was  the  indignant  voice  of  nature  at 
one  of  those  calumnies  "against  which,"  said  Napoleon,  "even 
innocence  loses  courage." 

When  compelled  by  the  galleries,  which  were  filled  with  the 
frightful  Iricoteuscs  of  the  Revolution,  to  rise  and  stand  during 
her  trial  in  October,  1793,  she  exclaimed,  "  Will  not  the  people 
soon  be  tired  of  my  sufferings  ? "  There  was,  however,  no 
weakness  in  her  nature,  and  it  was  unnecessary  for  the  priest  to 
tell  her  to  arm  herself  with  courage  on  the  scaffold:  "Courage!" 
she  replied,  "I  have  been  so  long  apprenticed  to  it,  that  there  is 
little  probability  of  its  failing  me  at  this  moment."  Her  last 


376  CAIUS  MAEIUS. 


words   were,  "  Adieu,  my  children :  I  am  going  to  join  your 
father  "  (Je  vais  rejoindre  votre  pere). 

CAIUS  MARIUS. 

[A  Roman  general;  born  near  Arpinum,  157  B.C.;  consul,  107; 
defeated  Jugurtha,  and  the  Cimbri  and  Teutones,  102;  driven  from 
Rome  by  Sulla,  88,  but  returned  the  next  year,  and  ordered  a  general 
massacre  of  his  opx)onents;  consul  for  the  seventh  time,  86,  but  died 
in  that  year.] 

Go  and  tell  him  that  thou  hast  seen  the  exile  Marius 
sitting  on  the  ruins  of  Carthage. 

When  the  officer  of  Sextilius,  governor  of  Africa,  had  carried 
his  superior's  order  to  Marius  not  to  land  at  Carthage,  and  asked 
•what  answer  he  should  take  back.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life.  The 
Abbe  Delille  (1738-1813),  in  his  poem  "Les  Jardins,'-'  Canto  IV., 
speaks  of  "  ancient  Carthage  seeing  the  ill-fated  Marius  seated 
upon  her  crumbling  walls,  and  these  two  great  ruins  consoled 
one  another  "  (Et  ces  deux  grands  debris  se  consolaient  entre  eux). 
This  line  was  vigorously  attacked  and  defended.  It  is  certainly 
striking,  but  seems  too  forced  to  be  sublime. 

Although  possessed  of  great  fortitude,  Marius  would  not  per- 
mit a  second  operation  to  be  performed  on  his  legs,  saying,  "  I 
see  the  cure  is  not  worth  the  pain ;  "  equivalent  to,  "  The  remedy 
is  worse  than  the  disease." 

When  Silo,  an  eminent  officer  of  Sulla's  army,  said  to  him,  "  If 
you  are  a  great  general,  Marius,  come  down  and  fight  us,"  he 
answered,  "  If  you  are  a  great  general,  Silo,  make  me  come  down 
and  fight." 

The  magistrates  of  Minturnse  took  Marius  prisoner  before  he 
sailed  for  Carthage,  and  determined  that  he  should  be  put  to 
death.  A  Gallic  or  Cimbrian  soldier  undertook  to  carry  their 
sentence  into  effect,  and  entered  the  gloomy  room  in  which  he 
lay.  A  light  glanced  from  the  eyes  of  the  captive  ;  and  a  voice 
was  heard  to  say,  "Dost  thou  dare  to  kill  Marius?"  The  soldier 
threw  down  his  sword,  and  fled.  Marius  was  allowed  to  depart. 
—  Ibid. 

Mirabeau  said,  "  The  mother  of  the  Gracchi  cast  the  dust  of  her 
murdered  sons  into  the  air,  and  out  of  it  sprang  Caius  Marius." 


MASSILLON.  377 


Napoleon  was  thinking  of  the  possibility  of  his  own  return  to 
power,  when  he  remarked  during  the  Hundred  Days,  "If  Marius 
had  fallen  on  his  sword  amid  the  marshes  of  Minturnae,  he  would 
never  have  enjoyed  his  seventh  consulate."  — LOCKHAKT  :  Life. 

MASSILLON. 

[Jean  Baptiste  Massillon,  a  celebrated  French  pulpit-orator;  born 
in  Provence,  16G3;  preached  before  Louis  XIV.  at  the  court,  K!'.i<); 
bishop  of  Clerniont,  1717;  member  of  the  Academy,  1719,  died  1742.] 

To  that  which  I  know  best  by  heart. 

When  asked  by  Louis  XIV.  to  what  sermon  he  gave  the  pref- 
erence, he  replied,  "A  celui  que  je  sais  le  mieux."  The  effect 
which  the  preaching  of  Massillon  had  upon  his  hearers  is  illus- 
trated by  the  compliment  paid  him  by  the  king,  perhaps  the 
greatest  ever  given  to  a  subject  by  his  sovereign,  and  that  sov- 
ereign the  Grand  Monarque :  "  Father,  I  have  heard  many  great 
orators,  and  I  have  been  satisfied  with  them ;  but  as  for  you, 
whenever  I  hear  you  I  am  dissatisfied  with  myself  "  (Mon  pere, 
fai  entendu  plusieurs  grands  orateurs,  et  fen  ai  etc  fort  content : 
pour  vous,  toutes  les  fois  que  je  vous  ai  entendu,  fai  e'te  tres  mecon- 
tent  de  moi-meme)  Mine,  de  Maintenon  likewise  made  the  most 
favorable  comparison  in  her  power,  when  she  said  of  Massillon's 
diction,  "He  is  the  Racine  of  prose  "  (77  a  la  meme  diction  dans 
la  prose  que  Racine  dans  la  poe'sie), —  Racine,  who  wrote  his 
plays  for  the  schoolgirls  of  St.  Cyr  to  act  in  the  presence  of  their 
benefactress.  When  one  of  his  brethren  was  congratulating  him 
upon  the  admirable  manner  in  which  he  had  preached  on  a 
certain  occasion,  Massillon  interrupted  him:  "  Stop,  father!  the 
Devil  has  already  told  it  to  me  more  eloquently  than  you  "  (Le 
diable  me  Va  deja  d it  plus  eloquemment  que  vous). 

Voltaire  said  that  Massillon's  eloquence  "  savored  of  the  cour- 
tier, the  academician,  the  wit,  and  the  philosopher." 

MAUPEItTUIS. 

[Pierre  Louis  de  Matipertuis,  a  French  mathematician  ;  born  at 
St.-Malo,  1(508  ;  elected  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  1723  ;  Fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society  ;  president  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Ber- 
lin, 1740 ;  died  1759.] 


378  ABBE   MAUEY. 


I  thought  so  yesterday. 

Maupertuis,  having  been  taken  prisoner  during  the  Seven 
Years'  War,  was  presented  at  Vienna  to  Maria  Theresa,  who 
said  to  him,  "  Do  you  know  the  Queen  of  Sweden,  sister  of  the 
King  of  Prussia?"  On  his  replying  in  the  affirmative,  the  em- 
press added,  "  I  am  told  that  she  is  the  most  beautiful  princess 
in  the  world."  -"I  thought  so  yesterday,"  was  the  gallant 
reply ;  or,  more  literally,  "  I  thought  so  until  to-day  "  (Je  L'avais 
cru  jusqu  aujourd'hui). 

ABBE  MAURY. 

[Jean  Siffrein  Maury,  known  in  history  as  the  Abbe  Maury,  a 
French  prelate;  born  in  the  Venaissin,  1746;  acquired  a  reputation 
after  coming  to  Paris,  by  his  pulpit-oratory  and  writings;  member 
of  the  States-General,  where  he  was  a  prominent  royalist;  left  Paris 
for  Rome,  and  was  made  a  cardinal;  returned  under  Napoleon,  and 
became  Archbishop  of  Paris,  but  was  deprived  of  the  office  at  the 
Restoration;  died  in  Rome,  1817.] 

Silence  those  sans-culottes  !  (Faites  taire  ces  sans-culottes  !) 

According  to  Barrau  ("  History  of  the  Revolution,"  134),  the 
abbe  paused  in  a  speech  in  the  Constituent  Assembly  to  ask 
the  president  to  silence  the  sans-culottes,  who  were  interrupting 
him  from  the  gallery.  The  republicans  were  called  sans-culottes 
because  they  had  discarded  knee-breeches  (culottes)  for  panta- 
loons. Sainte-Beuve  intimates  that  it  was  said  of  the  women 
who  filled  the  gallery  of  the  club  of  the  Feuillants ,  and  the 
German  Sherr  ("  Studien,"  II.  76)  gives  a  similar  origin  to  the 
words.  Littre,  the  French  lexicographer,  accepts  neither  version. 

The  abbe  had  a  happy  gift  at  repartee,  which  on  one  occa- 
sion saved  his  life.  Being  recognized  in  the  street,  when  the 
ultra-royalist  opinions  which  he  boldly  advanced  had  made  him 
odious  to  the  mob,  he  was  dragged  to  the  nearest  lantern,  but 
managed  to  find  a  moment  in  which  to  ask,  "  When  you  have 

*  i/ 

put  me  in  place  of  the  lantern,  will  you  see  better?"  (Eh  bien  ! 
quand  vous  m'auriez  tnis  a  la  lanterne,  y  verrez-vous  plus  clair?) 
The  crowd  laughed,  and  allowed  him  to  slip  away. 

When  asked  by  Napoleon  how  he  stood  with  regard  to  the 
Bourbons,  Maury  replied,  "  Sire,  rny  respect  for  them  is  unalter- 


SIR  JOHN  MAYNARD.  379 

able  ;  but  I  have  lost  faith  and  hope,  and  there  remains  to  me 
only  charity." 

Maury  was  proud  without  being  conceited.  To  Regnault  le 
St. -Jean  d'Angely,  who  in  a  moment  of  pique  said  to  him,  "It 
seems  you  think  much  of  yourself,"  he  replied,  "  Very  little  by 
myself,  but  much  by  comparison  "  ( Tres  pen  quand  je  me  con- 
sidere,  beaucoup  quand  je  me  compare). 

He  expressed  his  contempt  of  the  liberal  members  of  the 
noblesse  in  the  National  Assembly,  who  proposed  the  abolition 
of  titles,  by  telling  one  of  them,  "  Thy  scorn  of  ostentation  is 
itself  an  ostentation"  (Tu  foules  a  tes  pieds  le  faste,  mats  avec 
plus  de  faste).  Thus  Socrates  said  to  Antisthenes,  the  Cynic 
philosopher,  who  made  a  display  of  his  disregard  of  the  ordi- 
nary usages  of  life,  "  I  can  see  thy  pride  through  the  holes  in 
thy  robe."  When  Diogenes  trampled  upon  a  couch  at  dinner 
in  Plato's  house,  saying,  "I  trample  upon  Plato's  pride,"  the 
latter  answered,  "  But  with  greater  pride,  Diogenes."  Lord 
Chesterfield  said  in  a  letter  to  his  son,  Nov.  19,  1745,  "  Diogenes 
the  Cynic  was  a  wise  man  for  despising  them  [social  distinc- 
tions], but  a  fool  for  showing  it." 

"  But  when  I  tell  him  he  hates  flatterers, 
He  says  he  does,  being  then  most  flattered." 

Julius  Ccesar,  II.  1. 

SIR  JOHN  MAYNARD. 

[An  English  lawyer;  born  in  Devonshire,  1602;  actively  promoted 
the  revolution  of  1(588;  one  of  the  lords  commissioners  of  the  Great 
Seal,  1689;  died  1690.] 

I  have  forgotten  more  law  than  you  ever  knew;  but 
allow  me  to  say,  I  have  not  forgotten  much. 

To  the  infamous  Judge  Jeffreys,  who  taunted  him  with  having 
grown  so  old  as  to  forget  his  law. 

When  the  Prince  of  Orange,  soon  to  be  William  III.,  re- 
marked, on  meeting  Sir  John,  that  he  must  have  outlived  all 
the  lawyers  of  his  time,  the  octogenarian  replied,  "If  your 
Highness  had  not  come  over  to  our  aid,  I  should  have  outlived 
the  law  itself.'*  James  II.  had  asked  but  a  short  time  previously, 
"Do  you  not  know  that  I  am  above  the  law?  "  (f.  p.  286.) 


380  CARDINAL  MAZARIN. 

CARDINAL  MAZAHIN. 

[Giulio  Mazarini,  prime  minister  of  France;  born  in  Italy,  1602; 
nuncio  to  France,  1634,  and  attached  by  Richelieu  to  French  inter- 
ests; cardinal,  1G41;  recommended  by  Richelieu  as  his  successor; 
sole  adviser  of  the  queen-regent  after  the  death  of  Louis  XIII., 
which  position  he  maintained,  interrupted  by  a  short  banishment 
during  the  troubles  of  the  Fronde,  until  his  death,  March,  1661.] 

They  sing,  they  will  pay. 

His  famous  mot,  "  Us  chantent,  Us  payeront,"  which  is  quoted 
in  different  forms,  —  sometimes  in  that  patois,  half  Italian, 
half  French,  says  Fournier,  which  made  him  pronounce  union 
" oynion,"  and  write  "Rocofoco"  for  Rochefoucauld,  and  which 
in  this  case  was  "  S'ils  chantent  la  cansonette,  Us  pagaront."  The 
French  received  each  new  tax  he  laid  upon  them  with  satirical 
poems,  hence  called  "Mazarinades."  Calm  under  an  opposition 
which  exhausted  itself  in  songs,  he  used  to  say,  "  Let  them  speak, 
let  us  act"  (Laissons  purler  et  faisons).  Voltaire  used  the  same 
form  of  expression  in  a  letter  to  M.  Ilenin,  Sept.  13,  1772  :  "  Let 
them  speak,  and  allow  us  to  act"  (Laissons-les  dire,  et  qu'ils  nous 
laissent  faire). 

It  was  in  reference  to  this  singular  form  of  opposition  to 
Mazarin  that  Chamf ort,  in  his  "  Characters  and  Anecdotes,"  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  an  anonymous  wit  the  mot,  "  France  is  an  abso- 
lute monarchy  tempered  by  songs"  (La  France  est  une  monarchic 
al>solue  temperee  par  des  chansons).  Of  the  innumerable  parodies 
of  this  saying,  the  best  known  is,  "  Russia  is  a  despotism  tem- 
pered by  assassination." 

Is  he  fortunate  ? 

The  caution  of  the  Italian  was  shown  in  the  question  he 
always  asked  before  admitting  a  new  candidate  to  his  con- 

\j  o 

fidence  :  "  What  does  the  world  think  of  him?    Is  he  fortunate? 
Has  he  luck  on  his  side?  "  (Est-il  heureux ?) 

Twice  during  his  career  he  met  with  the  reverses  inseparable 
from  an  appeal  to  the  chances  of  war.  In  1649  he  accompanied 
the  queen-regent  and  the  young  Louis  XIV.  to  the  temporary 
exile  into  which  the  half-serious  skirmishes  of  the  Fronde  sent 
them.  Two  years  later  he  was  himself  banished  to  Cologne; 


METTEKNTCH.  381 


and  having  already,  in  1048,  closed  the  Thirty  Years'  War  by 
the  acquisition  of  Alsace,  he  could  bitterly  exclaim,  "  The  king- 
dom, ail  of  whose  boundaries  I  have  extended,  contains  no  asy- 
lum for  me  "  (//  ne  me  reste  pas  un  as'de  dans  un  royaume  dont  fai 
recule  toutes  les  frontieres). 

On  being  told  that  he  had  but  a  short  time  to  live,  Mazarin 
walked  feebly  through  the  magnificent  picture-gallery  which 
formed  part  of  the  treasures  he  had  collected  during  a  long 
career  marked  by  boundless  avarice.  He  was  heard  to  murmur, 
"  Must  I  quit  all  these  ?  "  The  words  with  which,  at  twenty 
years  of  age,  he  wras  presented  to  Cardinal  Barberini  by  his 
patron,  Cardinal  Bentivoglio,  he  employed  to  recommend,  on  his 
death-bed,  to  Louis  XIV.  the  future  genius  of  finance,  Colbert : 
"  Monseigneur,  I  am  under  heavy  obligations  to  your  illustrious 
family  ;  but  I  consider  that  I  cancel  them  all  by  giving  you  this 
young  man." 

METTERNICH. 

[Prince  Clemens  "Wenzel  von  Metternich,  an  Austrian  statesman; 
born  at  Coblentz,  1773;  minister  to  Dresden  1801,  to  Berlin  1803,  to 
Paris  180f5;  chancellor  and  minister  of  foreign  affairs,  1809-18-18,  when 
he  went  into  exile  for  three  years;  conducted  the  diplomatic  events 
during  the  Napoleonic  period,  and  managed  foreign  affairs  in  the 
interest  of  re-action;  died  1859.] 

The  English  have  more  common  sense  than  any  other 
nation,  and  they  are  mad  (Les  Anglais  ont  plus  de  bon  sens 
qu' aucune  nation,  et  il*  Kontfous). 

Thus  Talleyrand  said  of  English  education,  "It  is  the  best  in 
Europe,  and  it  is  detestable*'  (C'est  la  me'dleure  en  Europe,  et  die 
est  detestable}.  "It  is  good  for  the  English,"  said  Goethe,  "that 
they  are  always  for  being  practical  in  their  dealing  with  things ; 
but  they  are  pedants." 

He  wishes  you  to  respect  his  ambassador. 

Before  leaving  Paris  for  the  conquest  of  Spain,  Napoleon 
wished,  says  Prince  Metternich  ("Memoirs,"  I.  iv.),  "to  make 
a  manifestation  against  Austria,  who  was  preparing  for  war. 
With  this  aim,  he  chose  the  ceremonious  audience  he  was  in  the 


382  METTERXICH. 


habit  of  giving  on  his  /e/e-day,  Aug.  15,  1808.  Advancing  to 
within  two  steps  of  me,  Napoleon,  after  a  moment's  premedita- 
tion, asked  this  question  in  a  loud  voice, '  Well,  M.  VA  mbassadeur, 
what  does  the  emperor  your  master  wish ?'  (Que  veut  Vempereur 
votre  maitre?)"  Metternich  does  not  give  his  reply;  but  is  said  to 
have  answered  with  dignity  and  in  the  same  tone,  "  II  veut  que 
vous  resp'ectiez  son  ambassadcur."  The  conversation  lasted  half  an 
hour,  and  made  the  sensation  the  emperor  intended. 

In  Europe  democracy  is  a  falsehood. 

George  Ticknor  records  in  his  letters,  under  date  of  1836 
("Memoirs,"  vol.  II.),  conversations  with  Prince  Metternich  on 
political  subjects.  While  the  veteran  chancellor  admitted  the 
value  to  America  of  free  institutions,  he  denied  that  they  were 
practicable  at  home.  "In  Europe,"  he  said,  " democracy  is  a 
falsehood"  (c'est  un  mensonge).  But  he  had  doubts  of  its  per- 
manence even  in  America :  "I  do  not  know  where  it  will  end, 
but  it  cannot  end  in  a  quiet  old  age."  He  foresaw,  however,  the 
coming  storm  :  "  Democracy  is  everywhere  and  always  "  (partout 
et  toujours);  but  he  had  no  sympathy  with  it :  "It  does  not  suit 
my  character.  I  am  by  character  and  habit  constructive."  Act- 
ing on  that  principle,  he  claimed  to  be  building  for  the  future. 
"  The  present  day,"  he  said,  "  has  no  value  for  me,  except  as 
the  eve  of  to-morrow  (Le  jour  qui  court  n'a  aucune  valeur  pour 
moi  excepte  comme  la  veille  du  lendernain)  ;  it  is  always  with  to- 
morrow that  my  spirit  wrestles"  (C  est  toujows  avec  le  lende- 
main  que  mon  esprit  lutte).  When  forced  in  1848  to  bow  before 
the  storm  he  had  foreseen  in  1836,  but  made  light  of,  Metternich 
yielded  to  the  weakness  of  his  superiors,  saying,  "  If  emperors 
disappear,  it  is  only  when  they  have  come  to  despair  of  them- 
selves." 

Napoleon  said  of  Metternich,  "  He  is  almost  a  statesman :  he 
lies  well "  (77  est  tout  pres  d'etre  un  homme  d'etat:  il  ment  tres  bien). 
Talleyrand  made  the  following  comparison  between  Mazarin  and 
Metternich :  "  The  cardinal  deceived,  but  did  not  lie :  now, 
M.  de  Metternich  always  lies,  but  never  deceives  "  {Le  cardinal 
trompait,  mais  il  ne  mentait  pas ,  or,  M.  de  Metternich  ment  toujours, 
et  il  ne  trompe  jamais). 

Prince  Metternich  once  told  Lord  Dudley  that  the  common 


MICHAEL  ANGELO.  383 

people  in  Vienna  spoke  better  French  than  the  educated  men  in 
London.  "Your  highness  should  recollect,"  cuttingly  replied 
the  Englishman,  "that  Bonaparte  has  not  been  twice  in  London 
to  teach  them." 

MICHAEL  ANGELO. 

[Michelagniolo  Buonarotti,  commonly  called  Michael  Angelo;  born 
in  Tuscany,  March  6,  1474;  began  his  artistic  career  under  the  favor 
of  Lorenzo  de' Medici,  1490;  decorated  the  Sistine  Chapel  at  Rome  at 
the  invitation  of  Julius  II.;  erected  fortifications  in  Florence,  1528; 
finished  the  "Last  Judgment,"  1541;  appointed  architect  of  St.  Pe- 
ter's, 1546,  but  did  not  live  to  complete  it;  built  several  palaces  in 
Borne;  published  a  volume  of  poems,  1538;  died  in  Home,  February, 
1563  or  1564.] 

Like  it,  I  will  not  build :  better,  I  cannot. 

When  Michael  Angelo  was  leaving  Florence  for  Rome,  he  is 
said  to  have  turned  back  for  a  last  look  at  the  dome  of  the  cathe- 
dral, and  to  have  expressed  by  a  couplet  his  despair  of  rivalling 
the  work  of  Brunelleschi :  — 

"  lo  faro  la  sorella, 
Piii  grande  gia;  ma  non  piii  bella." 

HAEFORD:  Life,  II  91. 

Grimm,  however,  says  that  when  told  many  years  afterwards 
that  he  would  make  the  lantern  of  the  sacristy  of  San  Lorenzo 
in  Florence  far  better  than  the  dome  of  the  cathedral,  Michael 
Angelo  replied,  "  Different,  certainly,  but  not  better." 

Worthy  to  be  the  gates  of  Paradise. 

Said  of  the  two  bronze  doors  of  the  Baptistery  of  Florence, 
designed  by  Lorenzo  Ghiberti,  and  finished,  the  first  (after  the 
labor  of  twenty  years)  April  19,  1424 ;  and  the  second,  June  16, 
1452.  They  have  been  called  the  first  important  creation  of 
Florentine  art. 

On  seeing  for  the   first   time   the   antique  bronze  equestrian 
statue  of  the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius  in  the  square  of  the 
Capitol  at  Rome,  struck  by  the  wonderfully  lifelike  appearance 
of  the  horse,  Michael  Angelo  uttered  but  one  word:  "  Camminal 
(Move  on !) 


384  MICHAEL  AXGELO. 

He  said  of  Donatello's  statue  of  St.  Mark  in  Florence,  "  So 
noble  a  figure  could  indeed  write  a  Gospel." 

Of  the  intrigues  of  an  architect  named  jSTanni  Bigio  to  sup- 
plant him  as  architect  of  St.  Peter's,  Michael  Angelo  said,  with 
that  scorn  which  was  a  marked  feature  of  his  character,  "  He 
who  contends  with  the  worthless  gains  little." 

The  people  I  painted  on  it  were  poor. 

To  Julius  II.,  who  told  him  to  put  a 'gilding  around,  the  ceil- 
ing of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  where  the  prophets  and  sibyls  were 
painted,  or  it  would  look  poor. 

Biagio  da  Cesena,  master  of  ceremonies,  who  had  objected  to 
the  nudity  of  the  figures  in  "  The  Last  Judgment "  on  the  wall 
of  the  Sistine  Chapel,  and  whose  likeness  Michael  Angelo  had 
therefore  painted  in  "  The  Inferno,"  besought  Paul  III.  to  compel 
the  artist  to  erase  it;  to  which  the  pontiff  replied,  "I  can  release 
souls  from  purgatory,  but  not  from  hell." 

"\Vhen  Paul  IV.  criticised  the  nudity  of  the  figures,  Michael 
Angelo  remarked,  "  Let  him  reform  the  world :  that  is  much 
easier  than  correcting  pictures."  Daniele  da  Volterra  was  em- 
ployed to  clothe  some  of  the  figures,  and  was  consequently  called 
"the  breeches-maker." 

I  criticise  by  creation,  not  by  finding  fault. 

After  drawing  a  large  head  upon  the  wall  of  a  hall,  to  inti- 
mate that  he  considered  the  figures  with  which  Raphael  was 
decorating  it  too  small. 

Being  childless,  he  said  towards  the  end  of  his  life,  "My 
works  are  the  children  I  shall  leave  ;  and  if  they  are  not  worth 
much,  they  will  at  least  live  for  some  time." 

Over  the  device  of  an  old  man  sitting  before  an  hour-glass  he 
wrote;  "I  am  still  learning''  (Ancora  impard).  Seneca  says  in 
one  of  his  Epistles,  "  It  is  never  too  late  to  learn  ;  "  and  it  was  a 
saying  of  Solon,  "I  grow  old  learning  many  things."  Goethe 
declares  that  "  a  man's  activity  should  increase  with  age  "  (Wenn 
man  alt  tat,  mu*s  man  mehr  thun,  als  da  manjungwar).  The  last 
words  of  the  Emperor  Septimius  Severus  (A.  D.  146-211)  were, 
"Let  us  be  doing"  (Ldboremus). 

A  sculptor  should  carry  his  compass  in  his  eye. 


JOHN  MILTON.  385 


Art  is  a  jealous  thing  :  it  requires  the  whole  and  entire 
man. 

When  it  was  suggested  that  his  constant  labor  for  art  must 
make  him  think  of  death  with  regret,  Michael  Angelo  replied, 
"  If  life  be  a  pleasure,  yet,  since  death  also  is  sent  by  the  hand 
of  the  same  master,  neither  should  that  displease  us." 


JOHN  MILTON. 

[Born  in  London,  Dec.  9,  1608;  educated  at  Cambridge;  wrote  his 
first,  poems,  1632-37;  travelled  on  the  Continent;  Latin  secretary  to 
the  Council  of  State,  1648-49;  published  "  Paradise  Lost,"  1667;  "  Para- 
dise Regained,"  1671;  died  November,  1674.] 

It  is  my  way  to  suffer  no  impediment,  no  love  of  ease, 
no  avocation  whatever,  to  chill  the  ardor,  to  break 
the  continuity,  or  to  divert  the  completion,  of  my 
literary  pursuits. 

Letter  to  a  friend,  some  years  after  leaving  college;  as  in 
"  Lycidas  "  he  says,  — 

"  Fame  is  the  spur  that  the  clear  spirit  doth  raise 
(That  last  infirmity  of  noble  minds) 
To  scorn  delights,  and  live  laborious  days." 

Our  country  is  wherever  we  are  well  off. 

Letter  to  P.  Heinbach,  Aug.  15,  1666.  A  translation  of  the 
Latin,  "  P  atria  est,  ubicunque  est  bene,""  quoted  by  Cicero  ("Tuscu- 
lan  Disputations,"  V.  37)  from  the  poet  Pacuvius,  220  B.  C  The 
words  "  ubi  bene,  ibi  patria"  serve  as  a  refrain  to  Hiickstadt's 
song,  "  Ueberall  bin  ich  zu  Hause."1  Aristophanes  ("  Plutus  ") 
and  Euripides  ("Fragmenta  Incerta")  express  the  idea  in  nearly 
similar  terms.  Philiskus  said  to  Cicero  ("  Dion  Cassius,"  i.  171), 
"  Nowhere  do  countries  confer  fortune  or  misfortune  :  each  man 
for  himself  makes  his  own  country  as  well  as  his  own  fortune." 
Algernon  Sidney's  motto  was,  "Where  liberty  is,  there  is  my 
country." 

"  "Well  may  your  hearts  believe  the  truths  I  tell: 
'Tis  virtue  makes  the  bliss,  where'er  we  dwell." 

COLLINS:  Eclogue  I.  5. 


38G  MIEABEAU. 


But  compare  Goldsmith  •  — 

"  Such  is  the  patriot's  boast,  where'er  we  roam, 

His  first,  best  country  ever  is  at  home." 

Traveller,  73. 

Voltaire  said,  "  Our  country  is  the  spot  to  which  our  affections 
cling." 

"  I  do  not  call  the  sod  under  mv  feet  mv  country,"  said  Cole- 

\J  */  V      ' 

ridge;  "but  language,  religion,  laws,  government,  blood,  —  iden- 
tity in  these  makes  men  of  one  country." 

Ovid,  who  bore  with  so  little  fortitude  his  banishment  to 
Sarmatia,  wrote  during  his  exile  ("Fasti,"  I.  501)  :  "The  whole 
earth  is  the  brave  man's  country"  (Omne  solum  forti  patria  est). 
Nature,  however,  uttered  a  truer  cry  when  she  forced  from  him 
the  confession  of  the  indescribable  attraction  of  one's  native 
land,  which  no  man  can  forget  — 

"  Nescio  qua  natale  solum  dulcedine  cunctos 
Ducit,  et  inimemores  non  sinit  esse  sui." 

One  tongue  is  sufficient  for  a  woman. 

The  answer  attributed  to  Milton  when  asked  if  he  would 
instruct  his  daughters  in  foreign  languages. 

MIRABEAU. 

[Honore'  Gabriel  de  Riquetti,  Marquis  de  Mirabeau,  a  French 
orator;  born  near  Nemours,  March  9,  1749;  served  in  Corsica  with 
Paoli;  imprisoned  by  the  Parliament  of  Besancon,  sent  by  Calonne 
on  a  mission  to  Berlin,  1786;  member  of  the  States-General,  1789; 
became  the  master-spirit  of  the  National  Assembly,  of  which  he  was 
elected  president,  1791;  made  a  secret  alliance  with  the  court;  died 
April  2,  1791.] 

We  are  here  by  the  will  of  the  people,  and  we  shall 
retire  only  by  force. 

On  the  23d  of  June,  1789,  Louis  XVI.  convoked  the  States- 
General,  which  had  not  met  since  1614,  and  which  consisted  of 
the  three  orders,  or  estates,  of  the  realm,  —  the  nobility,  the 
clergy,  and  the  commons  (called  the  Tiers  Etat,  or  Third  Estate). 
Having  made  known  his  wishes  in  a  manner  in  strong  contrast 
with  the  usual  benevolence  of  his  character,  he  retired  after 
commanding  them  to  separate  and  assemble  in  their  respective 


MIRABEAU.  387 


chambers.  The  noblesse  and  the  clergy  obeyed ;  but  the  Third 
Estate,  who  wished  that  votes  should  be  taken  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  three  orders  sitting  together,  remained  motionless 
and  silent.  The  Marquis  de  Dreux-Breze,  grand  master  of 
ceremonies,  then  entered  the  hall,  and,  addressing  Bailly  the 
president,  said,  "  You  know  the  king's  wishes ; "  whereupon 
Mirabeau,  springing  to  his  feet,  made  the  memorable  answer, 
as  given  by  Dumont,  "Go  tell  your  master  that  we  are  here  by 
the  will  of  the  people,  and  that  we  shall  retire  only  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet"  (Allcz  dire  a  rotre  maltre  que  nous  sommes  id  par 
la  volonte  du  peuple,  et  que  nous  n'en  sort  irons  que  par  la  force  des 
baionnettes)  -  I\e  collections  of  Mirabeau. 

This  version  of  the  mot  was  for  a  long  time  regarded  as 
authentic  ;  but  during  a  discussion  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers, 
March  10,  1833,  upon  a  pension  to  be  decreed  to  the  persons 
engaged  in  the  destruction  of  the  Bastille  in  1789,  the  son  of 
the  Marquis  de  Dreux-Broze  declared,  on  the  authority  of  his 
father,  that  Mirabeau  said,  "We  are  assembled  by  the  will  of 
the  people,  we  will  leave  only  by  force"  (Nous  sommes  assem- 
ble s  par  la  volonte'  nationale,  nous  ne  sort irons  que  par  le  force}. 
M.  de  Montlosier,  who  was  present  at  the  convocation  of  the 
States-General,  corroborated  the  statement  of  the  marquis.  The 
"Memoirs'1  of  Baillv  give  neither  the  common  nor  the  corrected 

i/        C3 

version  of  the  mot,  while  the  "  Ephemerides  "  of  Noel,  June,  1803, 
substantiate  the  amended  record. 

The  Abbe  Sieyes  added  to  the  reply  of  Mirabeau,  "We  are 
the  same  to-day  that  we  were  yesterday:  let  us  deliberate" 
(Nous  sommes  aujourd'hui  ce  que  nous  e'tions  Ider :  delibe'rons)\  and 
Bailly  used  a  word  which  Sieyes  claimed  later  as  his  own  • 
"  The  assembled  nation  has  no  orders  to  receive "  (La  nation 
assemble'e  n' a  point  d'ordre  a  receuoir). 

Fournier  contributes  a  curious  note  ("  L'Esprit,"  370,  note)  tc 
the  statement  of  the  son  of  the  Marquis  de  Dreux-Breze,  apropos 
of  the  word  baionnette,  which  he  says  is  derived,  not  from  Bay- 
onne,  the  name  of  the  city  where  it  was  first  made,  but  from  the 
Spanish  diminutive  bayneta,  a  small  dagger.  He  adds  a  cele- 
brated mot  on  the  word,  contained  in  a  proclamation  of  Suwar- 
row  to  the  Russian  armies  in  1790  :  "  The  ball  is  a  fool,  the 
bayonet  is  a  hero  "  (La  balle  estfolle,  la  baionnette  est  un  he'ros). 


388  MIRABEAU. 


He  is  a  clock  that  always  goes  too  slow. 

Of  »Xecker,  of  whose  financial  schemes  Mirabeau  was  the  bit- 
ter opponent.  He  declared,  "  Malebranche  saw  every  thing  in 
God,  but  Xecker  sees  every  thing  in  Xecker.'  Of  the  Genevan's 
financial  policy  he  said,  with  prophetic  eye  to  the  event,  if  not 
to  the  road  to  it,  "It  is  thus  that  kings  are  led  to  the  scaffold." 
Xecker,  on  the  other  hand,  called  Mirabeau  "an  aristocrat  by 
inclination,  a  tribune  by  calculation." 

When  opposing  Xecker's  financial  proposal  in  the  Constituent 
Assembly,  -  -  which  was  the  name  the  Third  Estate  took  after 
decreeing  itself  permanent,  -  -Mirabeau  uttered  one  of  those 
apostrophes  which  were  famous  as  impromptus,  but  which,  like 
Sheridan's  jokes,  are  now  believed  to  have  been  carefully  pre- 
pared, either  by  himself  or  b}^  his  char  pliilosoplie  Chamfort  : 
'•  The  other  day  some  one  exclaimed,  '  Catiline  is  at  the  gates 
of  Romp,  and  you  deliberate  !  '  but  most  assuredly  there  was 
neither  Catiline,  nor  danger,  nor  Rome  ;  and  to-day  hideous 
bankruptcy  is  here,  threatening  to  consume  you,  your  honor, 
your  fortunes  —  and  you  deliberate  !  '  To  make  the  statement 
which  Mirabeau  quotes,  Goupil  de  Prefeln  had  combined  two 
Latin  phrases:  the  first,  "Hannibal  a/1  portas  "  (Hannibal  is  at 
the  gates),  from  Cicero's  First  Philippic,  applied  to  any  threat- 
ened danger  ;  and  "  dum  Roma  del-Herat,  S  a  aunt  inn  peril "  (while 
Rome  deliberates,  Saguntum  perishes).  From  these  the  thought 
of  Catiline  suggested  the  French  expression,  "Catiline  est.aux 
portes,  et  Von  de'libere."  Mirabeau  said  there  was  "  neither  Cati- 
line, nor  danger,  nor  Rome."  Thus  Boerne  wittily  remarked  of 
the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  that  it  was  "neither  holy,  nor  Roman, 
nor  an  empire  "  (das  heiliye  romische  Reich,  —  iceder  heiliy,  nodi 
romisch,  nodi  Reich), 

However  much  Mirabeau  may  have  been  "the  pet  of  the 
Revolution  "  in  its  earlier  days,  he  did  not  escape  the  hostility 
of  those  whom  he  exposed  or  ridiculed  in  the  Assembly.  On 
one  occasion  the  Right,  or  royalist  side,  greeted  his  appearance 
in  the  Tribune  with  cries  of  "  liar?"  "assassin,"  "scoundrel," 
etc. :  coolly  viewing  his  audience,  he  remarked,  "  I  wait,  gen- 
tlemen, until  these  amenities  be  exhausted."  —  DUMONT  : 
Recollections. 

As  Berryer  was  once  speaking  from  the  tribune  in  the  Corps 


MIKABEAU.  389 


Legislatif,  he  was  grossly  insulted  by  an  exclamation  from  the 
floor.  "Who  said  that?'  he  asked.  "I!"'  replied  Granier  de 
Cassagnac.  "  Oh  !  then  it  is  nothing  '  (Alors,  ce  nest  rien),  coolly 
remarked  the  orator,  and  proceeded  with  his  speech. 

He  would  fain  be  a  vjrandison-Cromwell. 

Of  Lafayette,  who  was  trying  to  reconcile  his  loyalty  to  the 
king  with  his  duty  to  his  country,  appearing  in  the  double  char- 
acter of  the  courtier  and  the  revolutionist.  That  he  did  not 
maintain  in  France  the  reputation  he  brought  from  America, 
caused  Mirabeau  to  say  of  him,  "  He  has  made  a  good  leap,  and 
fallen  backwards.'" 

Mirabeau's  characterizations  of  the  prominent  people  of  the 
time  were  pointed  and  happy.  Thus  he  appreciated  the  earnest- 
ness of  Robespierre,  then  comparatively  unknown,  and  predicted 
of  him,  "  He  will  succeed,  for  he  believes  all  he  says." 

He  doubted  the  sincerity  of  the  Due  d'Orleans  (Philip 
Egalite),  who  was  posing  as  a  patriot  from  a  dislike  of  the  royal 
family;  "It  is  doubtful,''  thought  Mirabeau,  "if  Orleans  him- 
self belongs  to  Orleans'  party."  This  resembles  the  frank  con- 
fession of  John  Wilkes  to  George  III.,  who  asked  him  how  his 
friend  Serjeant  Glynn  was.  "  He  is  not  a  friend  of  mine," 
replied  Wilkes  ;  "  he  is  a  Wilkesite,  which  I  never  was." 

When  Louis  XVI.  sent  the  Due  d'Orleans  out  of  the  coun- 
try in  1789,  Mirabeau  exclaimed  of  the  latter,  "  The  coward ! 
he  has  the  appetite  for  crime,  but  not  the  courage  to  execute  it." 
Talleyrand's  opinion  of  the  king's  cousin  was  expressed  even 
more  strongly  than  Mirabeau's  :  "  He  is  the  slop-pail  into 
which  is  thrown  all  the  filth  of  the  Revolution  "  (le  vase  dans 
lequel  on  a  jete  toutes  les  ordures  de  la  revolution').  —  DUMONT  : 
Recollections. 

Mirabeau  painted  the  character  of  the  king  and  his  court  with 
one  stroke,  in  a  letter  written  June  14,  1790 :  "  Marie  Antoinette 
is  the  only  man  whom  his  Majesty  has  around  him  "  (Le  roi  n'a 
qu'un  homme  •  c'est  sa  femme).  The  Duchesse  d'Angouleme, 
daughter  of  Louis  XVI.,  displayed  such  courage  in  opposing 
Napoleon's  entry  into  France  in  1815,  on  his  return  from  Elba, 
as  to  extort  from  him  the  compliment,  "  She  is  the  only  man  of 
her  race." 


390  MIRABEAU. 


He  -would  be  a  man   of  wit   and  a  scapegrace  in  any 
family  but  our  own. 

Of  his  brother,  Vicomte  de  Mirabeau,  who  gave  the  marquis 
a  Roland  for  his  Oliver,  when  reproached  by  him  for  entering 
the  Assembly  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  a  condition  so  usual  that 
his  bloated  figure  gave  him  the  nickname  of  Barrel  (Tonneau) 
Mirabeau:  "Of  all  the  vices  of  our  family,"  he  replied,  "that  is 
the  only  one  you  have  left  me."  Rivarol  said  of  his  own 
brother,  "  He  would  have  been  the  wit  of  any  other  family :  he 
wras  the  fool  of  ours;"  and  he  described  Mirabeau  as  "capable 
of  any  thing  for  money,  even  of  a  good  action." 

When  I  shake  my  terrible  locks,  all  France  trembles. 

In  the  Constituent  Assembly;  or,  as  given  by  Dumont  of  Mira- 
beau's  position  in  that  body,  "  When  I  shake  my  terrible  locks, 
no  one  dares  to  interrupt  me."  Voltaire  said,  during  his  resi- 
dence at  Ferney,  "  When  I  shake  my  wig,  I  cover  the  republic 
[of  Geneva]  with  the  powder." 

Mirabeau's  picture  of  himself  was  not  flattering :  "  Figure  to 
yourself,"  he  wrote  to  a  lady  who  had  never  seen  him,  "a  tiger 
who  has  had  the  small-pox."  When  he  was  one  day  dilating 
upon  the  qualities  of  the  ideal  ruler  of  France  under  a  free  con- 
stitution.—  that  he  should  be  eloquent,  progressive,  noble,  etc., 
Talleyrand  slyly  added,  "And  marked  with  the  small-pox?' 
(Et  qu'il  toil  trace  de  la  petite-ve'role,  n'est-ce  pas?)  John  Wilkes 
was  equally  proud  of  his  ugliness.  "  Give  me,"  he  said  of  his 
success  with  the  sex,  "but  half  an  hour  in  advance  of  the  hand- 
somest man  in  Europe."  -  "You  know  not,"  remarked  Mirabeau 
at  another  time,  "all  the  power  of  my  ugliness.''  —  DUMONT: 
Recollections. 

lie  was  quite  astonished  to  find  himself,  as  he  thought,  a 
philosopher:  "I  was  born  to  be  an  adventurer."  Frederick  the 
Great  said,  in  reference  to  his  love  of  fruit,  "I  have  missed  my 
vocation  :  I  should  have  been  an  espalier." 

"  I  know,"  Mirabeau  remarked  in  1789,  when  supporting  the 
abolition  of  tithes,  "  but  three  ways  of  living  in  society  :  you 
must  be  a  beggar,  a  robber,  or  a  stipendiary."  The  liberal  Due 
de  La  Rochefoucauld  supported  the  abolition  ;  and  when  the 


MIR  ABE  AU.  391 


Archbishop  of  Aix  called  tithes  "the  voluntary  offering  of  the 
devout  faithful,"  the  duke  added,  "  concerning  which  there  are 
now  forty  thousand  lawsuits  in  the  kingdom." 

Titles  as  well  as  tithes  fell  before  the  levelling-  axe  of  the 
Assembly;  and  Mirabeau,  stripped  of  his  iniirquisate,  found  him- 
self a  mere  enigma.  Complaining  that  he  was  called  in  the 
official  reports  of  the  debates  by  his  family  name,  he  said,  "With 
your  Riquetti,  yon  have  puzzled  all  Europe." 

When  told,  on  appearing  in  the  official  world  after  the  freaks 
of  his  youth,  that  he  must  ask  pardon  of  society,  which  had 
closed  its  doors  against  him,  he  proudly  answered,  "I  am  come 
to  be  asked  pardon,  not  to  ask  it." 

Never  mention  that  stupid  word  again ! 

To  his  secretary,  who  said  that  something  was  "  impossible." 
(Impossible  !  ne  me  elites  jamais  ce  bete  de  mot !)  Wellington  once 
exclaimed,  "Impossible!  is  any  thing  impossible?  read  the 
newspapers  !  "  Napoleon's  mot,  "  '  Impossible '  is  not  a  French 
word,"  is  from  Colin  d'Harlay,  "  '  Impossible  '  is  a  word  I  never 
use  "  (Impossible  est  un  mot  que  je  ne  din  jamais).  —  Malice  pour 
Malice,  I.  8.  Napoleon  said  at  another  time,  "  Genius  is  the 
art  of  accomplishing  in  spite  of  difficulties,  and  of  overcoming 
the  impossible."  D'Auteroches,  one  of  the  heroes  of  Fontenoy, 
when  told  that  Maestricht  was  "  impregnable,"  exclaimed,  "  Im- 
prenalile  is  not  a  French  word !  ': 

There  was  another  word  which  Mirabeau  wished  expunged. 
During  a  discussion  of  religious  toleration  in  the  National  As- 
sembly, he  exclaimed,  "  It  is  Intolerance  to  speak  of  Tolerance. 
Away  with  the  word  from  the  dictionary! '  He  did  not  believe, 
in  a  religion  authorized  or  guaranteed  by  the  state.  "Religion," 
he  said,  "is  no  more  national  than  conscience." 

He  opposed  an  idea  suggested  by  Jefferson,  that  the  Constitu- 
ent Assembly  should  publish  a  Declaration  of  Rights  :  "  I  can 
safely  predict,"  he  declared,  "that  any  declaration  of  rights 
anterior  to  the  constitution  will  prove  but  the  almanac  of  a 
single  year."  -DuMONT:  Recollections. 

He  said  of  the  Assembly  at  a  time  when  it  was  setting  itself 
in  fierce  opposition  to  the  court,  "  It  has  Ilannibals  enough :  it 
only  wants  a  Fabius."  He  recoiled  from  the  excesses  of  the 


392  MIR  ABE  AU. 


radicals ;  and  in  a  letter  to  the  king  during  the  secret  negotia- 
tions which  carried  him  over  to  the  royalist  party,  Mirabeau 
asserted  that  he  "  would  not  wish  to  be  always  employed  in  the 
vast  work  of  destruction."  His  illusions  had  been  dispelled.  "We 
have  long  been  looking  into  a  magic-lantern,  but  the  glass  is 
now  broken."  —  DUMONT.  He  now  looked  upon  the  Revolution 
as  a  torrent  which  would  prove  irresistible :  such  a  situation  of 
affairs  he  expressed  by  the  homely  figure,  "  When  a  pond  is  full, 
a  single  mole,  by  piercing  the  bank,  may  cause  an  inundation."  — 
Ibid.  This  was  said  a  year  after  he  had  paid  the  magnificent 
tribute  to  the  work  of  the  National  Assembly  in  1790  :  "  You  all 
remember  the  saying  of  the  ancient  patriot  who  had  neglected 
legal  forms  to  save  his  country.  Summoned  by  a  factious  oppo- 
sition* to  answer  for  his  infraction  of  the  laws,  he  replied,  'I 
swear  that  I  have  saved  my  country! '  Gentlemen,  I  swear  that 
you  have  saved  France."  He  referred  to  Scipio  Africanus,  who 
was  accused,  with  his  brother  Lucius,  of  appropriating  part  of 
the  money  which  had  been  paid  by  Antiochus  the  Great  to  the 
Romans  after  Scipio's  victory  over  him.  The  successful  prose- 
cution of  Lucius  emboldened  his  enemies  to  bring  the  conqueror 
of  Hannibal  before  the  people.  When  the  trial  came  on,  and 
Africanus  was  summoned,  he  proudly  reminded  them  that  it 
was  the  anniversary  of  the  day  on  which  he  had  defeated  Hanni- 
bal at  Zama,  and  called  upon  them  to  follow  him  to  the  Capitol, 
in  order  to  return  thanks  to  the  immortal  gods,  and  to  pray  that 
they  would  grant  the  Roman  state  other  citizens  like  himself. 
Carried  away  by  a  defence  which  did  not  touch  the  merits  of 
the  case,  his  enemies  abandoned  the  prosecution.  "Scipio  had 
triumphed  that  clay,  no  longer  over  Hannibal  and  Syphax,  but 
over  the  republic  and  the  law." 

Majesty  has  no  feet. 

During  the  brief  moment  when  the  Assembly  forgot  its  strug- 
gles with  the  court  by  the  king's  acceptance  of  the  constitution, 
and  a  deputy  proposed  that  the  homage  of  the  nation  should  be 
borne  to  the  feet  of  his  Majesty  as  the  restorer  of  French  liberty, 
Mirabeau  suggested  the  proximity  of  the  ridiculous  to  the  sub- 
lime, by  suggesting  "  Majesty  has  no  feet  "  {La  majeste  rfa  point 
de  pieds).  The  motion  dropped. 


MOHAMMED.  393 


I   carry  in  my   heart   the   death-dirge   of  the   French 
monarchy. 

In  taking  leave  of  Dumont,  who  left  France  for  Switzerland  in 
January,  1791,  Mirabeau,  then  President  of  the  Assembly,  said, 
"  I  shall  die  at  the  stake ;  and  we  shall  never,  perhaps,  meet 
again.  That  base  faction  whom  I  now  overawe  [the  Jacooins] 
will  again  be  let  loose  upon  the  country."  Hearing  the  discharge 
of  cannon  during  his  last  illness,  he  asked,  "Have  we  the  funeral 
of  Achilles  already?"  The  sun  was  shining  brightly  in  at  the 
window.  "  If  that  is  not  God,"  he  said,  "  it  is  at  least  his  cousin 
german  "  (&/  ce  n'est  pas  la,  Dieu,  c'est  du  moins  son  cousin  ger- 
main).  Calling  for  pen  and  paper,  he  writes  his  demand  for 
opium,  to  end  his  agonies.  The  doctor  shakes  his  head :  "To 
sleep  with"  (Dormir),  writes  the  other.  The  next  morning 
he  was  dead.  —  CARLYLE  :  French  Revolution.  The  theatrical 
expressions  attributed  to  Mirabeau  by  Alison  ("  History  of 
Europe  ")  are  not  given  by  Dumont,  and  are  now  discredited : 
"  Remove  from  the  bed  all  that  sad  apparatus.  Instead  of  these 
useless  precautions,  surround  me  by  the  perfumes  and  the  flowers 
of  spring ;  dress  my  hair  with  care  ;  let  me  fall  asleep  amid  the 
sound  of  harmonious  music." 

MOHAMMED. 

[Born  at  Mecca  about  570  A.D. ;  began  to  preach  his  doctrines  after 
his  fortieth  year;  fled  to  Medina,  July  16,  622;  defended  and  then 
propagated  his  system  by  the  sword;  while  fitting  out  a  second  ex- 
pedition against  Syria,  died  of  a  fever  in  the  spring  of  032.] 

There   is    no   God  but   God,    and  Mohammed  is  his 
prophet. 

The  watchword  of  his  career.  That  it  was  his  exclamation 
on  entering  the  world,  is  not  asserted  in  the  earlier  accounts  of 
his  life,  "and  is  clearly  the  invention  of  a  later  age." 

When  advised  by  his  uncle  to  abandon  a  cause  so  bitterly 
opposed  by  the  Koreishites,  the  powerful  tribe  to  which  he 
belonged,  Mohammed  replied,  "  O  uncle !  I  swear  that  if  they  put 
the  sun  on  my  right  hand  and  the  moon  on  my  left,  I  will  not 
renounce  the  career  I  have  entered  upon  until  God  gives  me 
success,  or  I  perish." 


394  MOLIERE. 


During  a  harangue  to  his  followers,  he  called  upon  a  neigh- 
boring mountain  to  advance,  in  token  of  the  authority  of  his 
words.  It  remained  motionless ;  and  Mohammed  exclaimed, 
"  If  the  mountain  will  not  come  to  Mohammed,  Mohammed  will 
go  to  the  mountain/'  All  the  people  followed  him,  and  the 
majestic  tone  of  his  voice  supplied  the  place  of  a  miracle. 

His  last  words  were  :  "  Yes,  I  come  ;  among  the  glorious  asso- 
ciates of  paradise ! >: 

MOLIERE. 

[Originally  Jean  Baptiste  Poquelin,  a  French  actor  and  dramatist; 
born  in  Paris,  Jan.  15,  1622;  adopted  the  stage,  with  a  change  of 
name,  1644;  opened  a  theatre  in  Paris  under  royal  patronage,  1658; 
produced  "  Les  Precieuses  Ridicules,"  1659;  "Tartuffe,"  1667;  "  Le 
Malade  Imaginaire,"  1673,  in  which  year  he  died.] 

I  recover  my  property  wherever  I  find  it. 

A  translation  of  the  principle  of  the  civil  law,  Ubi  rem  meam 
invenio,  ibi  vindico.  Moliere  applied  it  to  the  case  of  the  appro- 
priation by  his  early  friend,  Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  of  a  scene 
which  was  confidentially  communicated  to  him,  and  which  he 
incorporated,  during  Moliere's  absence  in  the  provinces,  in  the 
"  Pedant  Joue,"  II.  4.  It  contains  the  celebrated  question,  "  Que 
diable  allait-il  faire  dans  cette  gal  ere?"  (What  the  devil  was  he 
doing  in  that  galley?)  asked  of  the  result  of  any  incautious 
manoeuvre.  Moliere,  on  his  return  to  Paris,  took  possession  of 
his  stolen  property,  in  writing  "  Les  Fourberies  de  Scapin,"  where 
Geronte  asks  several  times  the  question  just  quoted.  To  justify 
his  action  Moliere  said,  "  Je  reprends  inon  bien  oil  je  le  trouve." 
Emerson  ("  Letters  and  Social  Aims  ")  refers  the  mot  to  Marmon- 
tel,  and  quoting  it,  "  I  pounce  on  what  is  mine,  wherever  I  find 
it,'  argues  in  favor  of  the  assimilation  by  authors  of  the  literary 
ideas  of  other  people.  The  word  prends  (take)  has  sometimes 
been  used  for  reprends  (recover).  Goethe  says,  "My  work  is  an 
aggregation  of  beings  taken  from  the  whole  of  nature  :  it  bears 
the  name  of  Goethe."  But  Moliere,  instead  of  giving  a  right 
of  conquest  of  others'  property,  which  would  easily  become  a 
right  of  pillage,  cried,  in  effect.  "  Stop  thief ! "  when  he  used  the 
expression  so  singularly  transformed  by  dropping  a  syllable. 


MOLTKE.  395 


One  of  Voltaire's  literary  maxims  was,  "  Originality  is  nothing 
but  judicious  imitation." 

We  chat  together:   he  gives  me  his  prescriptions;   I 
never  follow  them,  and  so  I  get  well. 

When  asked  what  use  he  had  of  a  physician,  since  he  was  an 
habitual  valetudinarian,  who  relied  on  the  temperance  of  his  diet. 
Being  asked  by  his  doctor  if  he  had  followed  his  prescription, 
"Beau'"  Nash  replied,  "If  I  had,  I  should  have  broken  my  neck; 
for  I  threw  it  out  of  the  second-story  window.''  When  Moliere 
had  been  sick  for  some  days,  his  servant  announced  the  visit  of 
a  physician:  "  Tell  him,"  answered  the  dramatist,  "that  I  am  ill, 
and  see  no  one." 

Because  it  is  more  difficult  to  rule  a  wife  than  a  king- 
dom. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  why  in  some  kingdoms  the  king 
was  of  age  at  fourteen  years,  but  could  not  marry  until  eighteen. 

MOLTKE. 

[Helmuth,  Count  von  Moltke,  a  Prussian  general  and  strategist; 
born  in  Mecklenburg,  1800;  as  chief  of  staff  planned  the  campaign 
against  Austria,  1800,  and  the  operations  of  the  German  armies  in 
the  war  against  France,  1870.] 

The  Prussian  schoolmaster  won  the  battle  of  Sadowa 

(Der  preussische  Schulmeiater  hat  die  Scldacht  bei  tiadowa  yewon- 
nen). 

Moltke  made  the  remark  in  the  session  of  the  German  Reichs- 
tag of  Feb.  16,  1874:  "It  is  said  the  schoolmaster  has  won  our 
battles."  Lehnert,  under-secretary  of  state,  declared  in  the 
Prussian  House  of  Delegates,  Jan.  25,  1868:  "The  Prussian 
school-system  has  been  brought  to  such  perfection  that  it  was 
admitted  on  all  sides  after  Sadowa,  that  not  merely  the  needle- 
gun,  but  the  schools,  had  won  the  battle.'  The  expression  occurs 
for  the  first  time,  however,  in  an  article  by  the  late  Privy  Coun- 
cillor, Peschel,  in  No.  29  of  "  Ausland,'!July  17,1866,  on  the 
"Lesson  of  the  Last  Campaign/  where  the  author  proposes  to 
prove  that  "  the  victory  of  the  Prussians  over  the  Austrians  was 
a  victory  of  the  Prussian  over  the  Austrian  schoolmaster." 


896  MONTESQUIEU. 


MONTESQUIE  U. 

[Charles  tie  Secondat,  Baron  de  la  Brede  et  de  Montesquieu;  a 
French  author;  born  near  Bordeaux,  Jan.  18,  1689;  president  of  the 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux,  1716;  admitted  to  the  Academy,  1728;  pub- 
lished "  The  Spirit  of  Laws,"  1748;  died  in  Paris,  February,  1755.] 

Ke  has  too  much  wit  to  understand  me  (II  a  trop  d* es- 
prit pour  in- entendre}. 

A  paradox  a  la  francaise,  said  of  Voltaire  and  "  The  Spirit  of 
Laws  "  (L' Esprit  des  Low),  where  the  pun  is  upon  the  word 
esprit. 

When  a  tedious  speaker  cried  to  Montesquieu  during  a  debate, 
"I  will  bet  my  head  that  you  are  wrong,"  —  "I  accept  it,"  was 
the  answer:  "  the  smallest  trifle  has  its  value  among  friends." 

Being  asked  on  his  death-bed  if  he  were  conscious  of  the 
greatness  of  God;  "Yes,  and  of  the  littleness  of  man,"  he  re- 
plied (Oui,  et  combien  les  hommes  sont  petitsy.--MA.RTiN:  History 
of  France,  XV.  Bk.  95.  Queen  Sophia  Charlotte  of  Prussia,  the 
grandmother  of  Frederick  the  Great,  once  wrote :  "  Leibnitz 
talked  to  me  of  the  infinitely  little,  mon  Dieu!  as  if  I  did  not 
know  enough  of  that!'1 — CARLYLE  :  Frederick  the  Great,  I.  -i. 
Leibnitz  said  of  his  philosophical  discussions  with  her,  that  "she 
always  wanted  to  know  the  why  of  the  why ;  "  and  on  her  death- 
bed she  said  she  was  going  to  satisfy  herself  on  many  points 
on  which  Leibnitz  could  tell  her  nothing.  Luther  would  have 
called  her  eagerness  as  a  pupil  dangerous  :  "  That  same  ichy  has 
done  a  great  deal  of  harm.  It  was  the  cause  of  Adam's  destruc- 
tion." 

THOMAS  MOORE. 

[An  Irish  poet;  born  in  Dublin,  1779;  translated  the  Odes  of 
Anacreon,  1801;  visited  the  United  States,  1804:  published  "  Lalla 
Rookh,"  1812;  "  The  Life  of  Byron,"  1830;  died  1852.] 

Because  it  shoots  from  the  eyes. 

When  asked  at  dinner  why  love  was  like  a  potato.  Byron's 
answer  was,  "  Because  it  becomes  less  by  pairing." 

When  told  that  Byron's  friend,  Lady  Caroline  Lamb,  had 
knocked  down  a  page  in  a  fit  of  passion,  Moore  remarked, 


SIR   THOMAS   MORE.  397 

"Nothing  is  more  natural  than  for  a  literary  lady  to  double 
down  a  page." 

SIR  THOMAS  MOKE. 

[An  English  philosopher  and  statesman;  born  in  London,  1480; 
educated  at  Oxford;  elected  to  Parliament,  1504;  wrote  "Utopia," 
151(i;  lord  chancellor,  152U-32;  committed  to  the  Tower  for  refusing 
to  acknowledge  the  validity  of  the  king's  marriage  to  Anne  Boleyn; 
beheaded  for  treason,  July  G,  1534.] 

If  my  head  would  win   him  a  castle  in   Prance,   it 
should  not  fail  to  go. 

Of  Henry  VIII.,  at  the  time  of  More's  highest  favor  at  court. 

Being  appointed  on  an  embassy  to  Francis  I.  by  Henry,  he 
feared  that  the  French  king  might  order  him  to  be  beheaded,  if 
the  message  did  not  suit  him.  "  If  he  does  that,''  said  Henry, 
"I  will  make  every  Frenchman  in  my  realm  a  head  shorter." 
"But  I  am  afraid,"  rejoined  More,  "that  none  of  those  heads 
would  fit  my  shoulders." 

On  meeting  Erasmus  for  the  first  time,  who  said  to  him,  "  Aut 
tu  es  Morus  aut  nullus  "  (You  are  More  or  nobody),  More  replied, 
"Aut  tu  es  Erasmus  aut  Diaholus"  (You  are  Erasmus  or  the 
Devil." 

"To  aim  at  honor  in  this  world,"  he  was  wont  to  say,  "is  to 
set  a  coat-of-arms  over  a  prison-gate.'' 

When  a  man  asked  for  a  long  day  in  which  to  pay  a  just  debt 
to  a  widow,  More,  then  lord  chancellor,  replied,  "  Monday  next 
is  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  which  is  the  longest  in  the  year. 
Pay  it  on  that  day,  or  you  shall  kiss  the  Fleet." 

A  woman,  who  had  a  suit  at  court,  presented  him  with  a,  pair 
of  gloves  containing  £40.  He  took  the  gloves,  and  returned  the 
money,  saying,  "  I  prefer  my  gloves  without  lining." 

I  pray  God  to  spare  my  friends  from  a  similar  clem- 
ency. 

When  told  that  the  king,  to  show  his  clemency,  had  changed 
the  sentence  of  death  pronounced  upon  More  to  simple  decapi- 
tation. 

More  gave  a  curious  example  of  his  wit  at  his  own  execution. 


398  BISHOP  MOUNTAIN". 

"The  scaffold  had  been  awkwardly  erected,"  says  Fronde,  "and 
shook  as  he  placed  his  foot  upon  the  ladder.  '  See  me  safe  up,' 
he  said  to  Kingston :  '  for  my  coming  down  I  can  shift  for  my- 
self.' .  .  .  The  fatal  stroke  was  about  to  fall,  when  he  signed 
for  a  moment's  delay,  while  he  moved  aside  his  beard :  '  Pity 
that  should  be  cut,'  he  murmured,  'that  has  not  committed 
treason.'  With  which  strange  words,  —  the  strangest,  perhaps, 
ever  uttered  at  such  a  time  —  the  lips  most  famous  through 
Europe  for  eloquence  and  W7isdorn  closed  forever." — History  of 
England,  chap.  ix. 

When  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  heard  of  More's  execution,  he 
exclaimed,  "  I  would  rather  have  lost  the  best  city  in  my  domin- 
ions, than  so  worthy  a  counsellor." 

Erasmus  said  that  with  More,  "  You  might  imagine  yourself 
in  the  Academy  of  Plato." 

BISHOP  MOUNTAIN. 

[George  J.  Mountain;  born  at  Quebec  about  1789;  became  first 
bishop  of  Quebec  about  1837;  died  1863.] 

If  your   Majesty  had  faith,   there  would  be  no  diffi- 
culty. 

William  TV",  expressed  a  doubt,  in  the  presence  of  Dr.  Moun- 
tain, whom  he  should  appoint  to  the  new  see  of  Quebec.  "If  your 
Majesty  had  faith,  there  would  be  no  difficulty,''  suggested  the 
quick-witted  divine ;  "  because  you  would  say  to  this  Mountain, 
'Be  thou  removed  into  that  see,'  and  it  would  be  done."  The 
witticism  w7on  him  the  appointment. 

NAPOLEON  I. 

[Napoleon  Bonaparte;  born  at  Ajaccio,  Corsica,  Aug.  15,  1769; 
educated  in  France,  and  entered  the  Army  of  the  Republic;  took 
Toulon,  1793;  Commander-in-chief,  1795;  campaign  of  Italy,  1796; 
expedition  to  Egypt,  1798;  First  Consul,  1799;  second  campaign  in 
Italy,  1800;  Emperor  of  the  French,  1804;  crushed  Austria  1805, 
Prussia  1806;  occupied  Spain,  1807;  invaded  Russia,  1812;  campaign 
in  Germany  and  "War  of  Liberation,"  1813;  occupation  of  Paris  by 
the  Allies,  March  13,  1814;  abdicated  and  retired  to  Elba;  returned 
to  France,  March  1, 1815;  battle  of  Waterloo,  June  18, 1815;  abdicated 
again,  June  22;  banished  to  St.  Helena,  where  he  died  May  5,  1821.] 


NAPOLEON  I.  399 


Let  that  woman   be   removed,  who  brings   into  this 
place  the  license  of  a  camp. 

When  the  janitor's  wife  at  the  military  school  at  Brienne  was 
clamoring1  for  admission  to  a  school-play. 

He  witnessed  the  insurrection  of  June  20,  1792,  and,  following 
the  mob,  saw  them  break  into  the  Tuileries :  when  Louis  XVI. 
appeared  on  the  balcony,  and,  in  obedience  to  the  popular 
demand,  put  on  the  liberty-cap  [bonnet  rouge],  Bonaparte,  then  a 
captain  of  artillery,  exclaimed,  '•  The  wretches !  They  should 
have  swept  down  five  hundred  with  grape-shot,  and  the  rest 
would  have  fled." 

At  his  confirmation,  the  Archbishop  of  *Paris  remarked  that 
there  was  no  St.  Napoleon  in  the  calendar,  it  being  customary  to 
name  a  child  from  some  saint :  "  There  are  a  crowd  of  saints  in 
paradise,"  replied  Bonaparte,  "and  only  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
live  days  in  a  year." 

During  the  siege  of  Toulon,  then  in  possession  of  the  Spanish 
and  English,  he  said,  "  Those  should  possess  knowledge,  who 
aspire  to  assume  the  command  over  others." 

When  asked  how  he  could  fire  upon  his  own  countrymen,  dur- 
ing the  "  Day  of  Sections,''  when  he  suppressed  by  artillery  the 
insurrection  against  the  Directory,  Oct.  4,  1794,  he  replied,  "A 
soldier  is  only  a  machine  to  obey  orders.  This  is  rny  seal,  which 
I  have  impressed  upon  Paris."  He  made  use  of  the  same  figure 
during  the  empire  :  "  I  am  the  signet,  which  marks  the  page 
where  the  Revolution  has  been  stopped  ;  but  when  I  die  it  will 
turn  the  page,  and  resume  its  course." 

From  the   summit   of    the   Pyramids  forty   centuries 
look  down  upon  you  ! 

Before  the  battle  of  the  Pyramids,  July  21,  1798,  Bonaparte 
addressed  his  soldiers,  telling  them  that  they  were  about  to  en- 
gage with  the  conquerors  of  Egypt,  the  Mamelukes,  and  their 
Arabian  auxiliaries ;  and  added,  "  Songez  que  du  haut  de  ces 
monuments  quarante  siecles  vous  contemplent !  ' 

Before  setting  out  on  this  expedition,  he  said  of  Washington, 
to  some  Americans,  "  Posterity  will  talk  of  him  with  reverence 
as  the  founder  of  a  great  empire,  when  my  name  shall  be  lost  in 
the  vortex  of  revolutions." 


400  NAPOLEON  I. 


La,  grande  nation. 

Bonaparte  first  used  the  expression,  la  grande  nation,  in  a  proc- 
lamation to  the  Italians,  1797.  —  LANFREY:  Napoleon  7.,  I.  10. 
He  repeated  it  the  same  year  in  replying  at  the  Luxembourg  to 
an  address  of  Talleyrand  :  "  It  has  fallen  to  you  to  organize  the 
great  nation,  whose  province  is  only  limited  by  laws  which 
Nature  herself  has  set."  He  addressed  his  troops  on  passing  the 
Rhine  (1805),  as  "the  vanguard  of  la  grande  nation  ;  "  and  at  St. 
Helena  (Las  Cases,  "Memorial,"  Oct.  31,  1816)  he  claimed  the 
authorship  of  the  phrase;  it  was  reiterated  by  Napoleon  III., 
April  12,  1869,  on  the  occasion  of  the  pensioning  of  the  old 
soldiers  of  the  Ffrst  Empire.  Goethe  and  Schiller  caught  up 
the  words,  and  used  them  :  Goethe  in  the  "  Unterhaltungen 
deutscher  Ausgewanderter,"  and  Schiller  in  a  letter  to  Goethe, 
Oct.  5, 1798. 

Bonaparte's  addresses  to  his  army  were  always  brief,  pointed, 
and  stirring.  Thus  he  said  to  his  troops  on  entering  Milan, 
1796 :  "  Then  you  will  return  to  your  homes ;  and  your  fellow- 
citizens  will  say  of  each  of  you  in  passing,  '  He  was  a  soldier  in 
the  army  of  Italy  ! ' 

It  is  not  written  on  high  that  I  am  to  perish  by  the 
hands  of  the  Arabs. 

After  an  escape  in  Egypt  from  Arab  horsemen. 

Bonaparte's  belief  in  his  star,  in  fate,  and  destiny,  was  often 
expressed.  Thus  he  said  once  to  an  officer,  "My  friend,  if  that 
ball  were  destined  for  you,  it  would  be  sure  to  find  you,  though 
you  wrere  to  burrow  a  hundred  feet  under  ground."  When  a 
lady  advised  Lord  Nelson  not  to  expose  himself  in  battle  as 
recklessly  as  he  was  in  the  habit  of  doing,  he  replied,  "  The 
bullet  which  kills  me  will  have  on  it,  '  Horatio  Nelson,  his  with 
speed. ':  Longfellow  incorporates  the  idea  in  the  ballad  of 
«  Victor  Galbraith  :  "  - 

"  Victor  Galbraith 

Falls  to  the  ground,  but  he  is  not  dead; 
His  name  was  not  stamped  on  those  balls  of  lead." 

Mine,  de  Sevigne  wrote :  "  Who  can  doubt  that  the  cannon- 
ball  which  could  distinguish  M.  de  Turenne  among  a  dozen  was 


NAPOLEON  I.  401 


loaded  for  that  purpose  from  all  eternity  ?  "  Napoleon  refused  to 
retire  from  an  exposed  position  at  Montereau,  in  1814,  with  the 
words,  "  Courage,  my  friends :  the  ball  which  is  to  kill  me  is  not 
yet  cast."  Of  Sir  Sidney  Smith  and  the  repulse  he  himself  re- 
ceived at  Acre,  he  said,  "That  man  made  me  miss  my  destiny." 
When  O'Meara  asked  him  at  St.  Helena,  November,  1816,  if  he 
were  a  predestinarian,  he  replied,  "  When  destiny  wills,  it  must 
be  obeyed"  (Quando  lo  vuole  il  destino,  bisogna  ubbedire).  As  the 
sun  broke  through  the  clouds  on  the  morning  of  Dec.  2,  1805, 
Napoleon  exclaimed,  "  Voila  le  solell  d' Austerlitz !  "  (Behold  the 
sun  of  Austerlitz  !)  He  said  later,  "  Death  overtakes  the  coward, 
but  never  the  brave  man  till  his  hour  is  come." 


I  found  him  a  dwarf,  and  left  him  a  giant. 

Of  Lannes,  who  entered  the  army  a  volunteer,  and  died  mar- 
shal of  France,  being  mortally  wounded  at  Aspern,  May  22, 1809. 
"  He  was,"  said  Napoleon,  "the  Roland  of  the  army."  The  last 
words  attributed  to  Lannes,  "  I  die  with  the  conviction  and  the 
glory  of  having  been  your  best  friend  "  (Sire,  je  meurs  avec  la 
conviction  et  la  gloire  d 'avoir  ete  votre  meilleur  ami),  were,  says 
Fournier  (378,  note),  inserted  in  the  "  Moniteur  "  instead  of  those 
really  uttered  :  "  In  the  name  of  God,  sire,  make  peace  for  France ; 
as  for  me,  I  am  dying"  (Au  nom  de  Dieu,  sire,  faites  la  paix pour 
la  France:  moi,  je  meurs).  This  was  a  cry  for  peace  from  one 
who  had  tasted  the  glory  of  war;  the  other  words,  loaned  for  the 
occasion  to  a  faithful  friend,  were,  in  reality,  a  protest  of  Napo- 
leon against  the  withdrawal  of  certain  friendships.  — Revue  des 
Deux-Mondes,  1857,  904. 

There  is  another  world. 

Before  going  into  action  at  Reichenbach,  Prussia,  May  22, 
1813,  Napoleon  said  to  his  favorite  general,  Duroc,  "  Fortune  is 
resolved  to  have  one  of  us  to-day."  The  duke  was  soon  after- 
wards mortally  wounded ;  and  the  emperor  said  to  him  as  he 
pressed  his  hand,  "  Duroc,  there  is  another  world,  where  we  shall 
meet  again." 

Seeing  on  the  field  of  Wagram,  July,  1809,  the  body  of  a  colo- 
nel who  had  displeased  him,  Napoleon  said,  "  I  regret  not  having, 
told  him  before  the  battle  that  I  had  forgotten  every  thing." 


402  NAPOLEON  I. 


Carnot  has  organized  victory. 

In  1793  Bonaparte  said  of  Carnot,  a  member  of  the  Committee 
of  Public  Safety,  who  fulfilled  the  duties  of  a  secretary  of  war, 
"Carnot  has  organized  victory;"  and  years  afterwards,  when 
Waterloo  had  shattered  his  last  armies,  he  bitterly  exclaimed, 
"Carnot,  I  knew  you  too  late!"  (je  vous  ai  connu  trop  tard /) 
"Truly,"  says  Brougham,  "tyrants,  and  they  who  play  the  ty- 
rant's part,  are  the  last  to  make  acquaintance  with  the  worth  of 
such  men  as  Carnot." 

Napoleon  said  to  Rapp,  of  the  Duchess  Louisa  of  Saxe-Wei- 
mar,  one  of  Germany's  crowned  heroines,  after  the  battle  of  Jena 
in  1806:  "There  is  a  woman  whom  even  vour  two  hundred 

•< 

cannon  have  not  frightened !"  (Voila  une  femme  a  laquelle  meme 
vos  deux  cent  canons  n^ont  pu  faire  peur /)  To  an  even  greater 
Louisa,  the  heroic  wife  of  Frederick  William  III.  of  Prussia, 
Napoleon  offered  an  orange  at  a  banquet  after  the  peace  of  Tilsit 
in  1807:  "Yes — but  with  Magdeburg,"  she  said  ;  that  city  not 
having  been  ceded  to  Prussia,  but  handed  over  to  the  kingdom 
of  Westphalia.  "It  is  for  me  to  give,  you  to  receive,"  replied 
the  emperor. 

He  advised  Talma  to  conceal  the  tyrant  in  playing  Nero,  say- 
ing, "  No  man  admits  his  wickedness,  either  to  others  or  to  him- 
self." The  great  actor  received  many  favors  from  Napoleon, 
who  wrrote  to  him  in  1808 :  "  Come  and  act  at  Erfurt :  you  shall 
play  before  a  pit-full  of  kings." 

From  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous  there  is  but  a  step. 

On  his  return  from  the  disastrous  campaign  of  Russia,  1812, 
Napoleon  repeated  many  times,  in  an  interview  with  the  Abbe 
du  Pradt,  his  minister  or  agent  at  Warsaw,  the  mot  which  he 
made  famous,  if  he  did  not  invent  it :  "  Du  sublime  au  ridicule  il 
n'y  a  qu'un  pas."  Thomas  Paine,  who  published  his  "  Age  of 
Reason  "  in  Paris,  1795,  says,  in  a  note  at  the  end  of  Part  II., 
"  One  step  above  the  sublime  makes  the  ridiculous,  and  one 
step  above  the  ridiculous  makes  the  sublime  again."  Napoleon 
varied  the  expression  when  he  said,  "  The  fate  of  war  is  to  be 
exalted  in  the  morning,  and  low  enough  at  night :  there  is  but 
one  step  from  triumph  to  ruin."  —  LOCKHART  :  Life.  Deslandes 


NAPOLEON  I.  403 


(1690-1757)  in  "  Reflections  sur  les  Grands  Homines  qui  sont 
morts  en  plaisantant,"  says,  "  I  distrust  those  sentiments  that  are 
too  far  removed  from  nature,  and  whose  sublimity  is  blended 
with  ridicule ;  which  two  are  as  near  one  another  as  extreme 
wisdom  and  folly.''  —  A  correspondent  of  "Notes  and  Queries," 
2d  s.  III.  66,  quotes  from  a  manuscript  commonplace-book  of 
Edward  Lord  Oxford  [about  1725],  "  Le  maynifique  et  le  ridicule 
sont  si  voisins  qu'ils  touchent  "(The  magnificent  and  the  ridiculous 
are  so  near  neighbors  that  they  touch  each  other).  Coleridge 
speaks  in  his  "Table-Talk"  of  a  passage  being  "the  sublime 
dashed  to  pieces  by  cutting  too  close  with  the  fiery  four-in-hand 
round  the  corner  of  nonsense."  The  original  of  this  saying  may 
be  found  in  a  work,  Hepi  u^ouf,  3,  attributed  to  Longinus.  For 
Mirabeau's  variation  of  the  phrase,  see  p.  90.  Wieland  ("Ab- 
deriten,"  III.  ch.  12)  gives  a  German  version  of  the  proverb. 

Napoleon  said  to  the  Abbe  du  Pradt,  when  giving  him  in- 
structions as  to  the  course  he  was  to  pursue  in  his  attempt  at 
Warsaw  to  gain  over  Poland,  in  1806,  "  Set  a  good  table,  and 
cultivate  the  women  "(  Tenez  bonne  table,  et  soiynez  les  femmes.) 
Goethe  says,  "  Diplomacy  is  hospitable." 

I  have  not  succeeded  Louis  XIV.,  but  Charlemagne 
(Je  rial  pas  succede  a  Louis  Quatorze,  mats  a  Charlemagne). 

That  is :  I  am  not  merely  extending  an  empire,  I  am  founding 
one ;  I  am  reviving  the  Holy  Roman  Empire;  my  son,  the  heir- 
apparent  of  the  Holy  Roman  emperor,  is  "King  of  Rome."  In 
putting  upon  his  own  head  at  his  coronation  as  King  of  Italy  in 
1805,  the  iron  crown  of  Charlemagne,  he  uttered  the  old  chal- 
lenge of  the  Lombard  kings,  which  became  the  motto  of  his 
Order  of  the  Iron  Crown,  "  Dio  me  la  diede  :  yuai  a  eld  la  tocca  !  " 
(God  gave  it  to  me  :  woe  to  him  who  touches  it !)  This  crown 
of  gold  and  precious  stones,  enclosing  a  thin  ring  of  iron  said  to 
have  been  forged  from  a  nail  of  the  Cross,  was  made  by  order  of 
Theolinda  for  her  husband  Arnulf,  king  of  the  Lombards,  in 
591.  She  committed  it  to  the  care  of  the  church  of  Monza. 
Charlemagne,  and  all  the  German  emperors  who  were  kings  of 
Lombardy,  were  crowned  with  it.  It  was  carried  to  Mantua  by 
the  Austrians  in  1859,  but  after  the  peace  of  Vienna  in  1866 
was  given  back  to  Victor  Emmanuel  at  Turin. 


404  NAPOLEON  I. 


Charles  XII.  of  Sweden  wrote  on  a  plan  of  the  city  of  Riga : 
"  The  Lord  gave  it  me :  the  Devil  shall  not  take  it  from  me." 

Napoleon  said  of  the  crown  of  France,  in  presence  of  Mme.  de 
Remusat,  "  I  found  it  on  the  ground,  and  I  picked  it  up  with  the 
point  of  my  sword  "  (J'ai  trouve  la  couronne  de  France  par  terre, 
et  je  Vai  ramassee  avec  la  pointe  de  mon  e'pe'e).  — Memoirs,  chap, 
vii.  At  the  same  time  he  was  the  embodiment  of  the  Revolu- 
tion :  "  I  am  the  French  Revolution."  —  Ibid.,  chap.  v.  He  made 
a  similar  assertion  at  Grenoble,  on  his  return  from  Elba  in  1815  : 
"  I  am  the  Revolution  crowned  !  " 

The  ages  are  not  for  us. 

When  advising  his  brother  Joseph,  King  of  Naples,  in  1806,  to 
erect  fortresses,  etc.,  at  once,  as  no  one  knew  what  might  happen 
in  two  or  three  years,  he  said,  "  Les  siecles  ne  sont  pas  a  nous."  — 
THIERS  :  Consulate  and  Empire,  Bk.  XXV.  When  Joseph  was 
about  to  take  possession  of  the  throne  of  Spain,  his  brother  said 
to  him,  "  I  have  only  one  counsel  for  you,  —  Be  master ;  "  and  of 
his  own  invasion  of  that  country,  "  I  shall  find  the  Pillars  of 
Hercules  in  Spain  :  I  shall  not  find  there  the  limits  of  my  power  " 
(Je  trouverai  en  Espagne  les  colonnes  d'Hercule:  je  n'y  trouverai 
pas  les  bornes  de  ma  puissance).  Not  only  was  this  prophecy 
unfulfilled,  but  "  the  beginning  of  the  end  "  of  Napoleon's  career 
dates  from  his  unjustifiable  attack  upon  a  neighboring  power. 

Off !  off  -with  these  confounded  trappings ! 

Of  his  coronation-robes,  which  he  threw  off  with  disgust  at 
the  end  of  the  ceremony,  Dec.  2,  1804.  Louis  XVI.  said  of  his 
crown  on  a  similar  occasion,  "It  bothers  me  "  (Elle  me  gene}. 

Another  saying  of  this  time  has  remained  for  history  to  record. 
The  venerable  pontiff  Pius  VII.,  who,  against  his  will,  was 
brought  to  Paris  for  the  emperor's  coronation,  was  accustomed 
to  bless  the  people  every  morning  in  the  gallery  of  the  Louvre. 
Seeing  there  one  day  a  man  who  wished  his  opinions  to  be  under- 
stood by  remaining  in  the  background,  so  as  to  avoid  the  papal 
benediction,  Pius  approached  him  with  the  mildly  spoken  words, 
"Why  avoid  me,  sir?  Can  an  old  man's  blessing  harm  you?" 
(La  benediction  d'un  vieillard,  a-t-elle  quelque  danger?)  —  MME.  DE 
REMUSAT  :  Memoirs,  chap.  x. 


NAPOLEON  I.  405 


I  conquer  provinces,  but  Josephine  wins  hearts. 

Of  the  popularity  of  the  empress.  Napoleon  said  at  another 
time,  "  The  first  applause  of  the  French  people  sounded  to  my 
ear  as  sweet  as  the  voice  of  Josephine." 

His  sisters  were  continually  demanding  honors  which  they 
considered  due  to  their  relationship  to  the  emperor.  He  rer 
buked  them  once  by  saying,  "  One  would  think  from  your  pre- 
tensions, ladies,  that  we  had  inherited  the  crown  from  our  father  " 
(En  verite  a  voir  vos  preventions,  mesdames,  on  croirait  que  nous 
tenons  la  couronne  des  mains  du  feu  roi  noire  pere}. — MME.  DE 
REMUSAT  :  Memoirs,  vii.  He  replied  at  another  time  to  the 
complaints  of  his  sisters  at  what  they  considered  a  scanty  allow- 
ance, "I  had  not  so  much  when  I  had  the  honor  to  be  sub-lieu- 
tenant "  (Je  n' avals  pas  fa,  quand  f  avals  I'honneur  d'etre  sous- 
lieutenant). 

Napoleon  judged  of  a  man's  superiority  by  his  dexterity  in 
falsehood,  and  used  to  recall  with  pleasure  that  one  of  his  uncles 
predicted  that  he  would  rule  the  world,  from  his  habit  of  lying. 
In  the  unflattering  picture  which  Mme.  de  Remusat  draws  of 
him,  he  admits  that  he  would  not  be  ashamed  to  commit  a  base 
action :  "  I  am  base  myself,"  he  declared,  "  inherently  base  "  (Je 
suis  lache,  moi,  essentiellement  laclie).  —  Ibid. 

He  hated  repose  for  himself  and  others  to  such  a  degree,  that 
he  asserted  that  the  man  truly  happy  was  he  who  succeeded  best 
in  avoiding  him ;  adding,  "  When  I  die  the  world  will  heave  a 
great l  ugh ! '  "  (un  grand  ouf!)  —  Ibid. 

If  he  were  alive,  I  would  make  him  a  prince  (S'il  vivait, 
je  le  ferais  prince). 

Of  Corneille.  —  BOURRIEXXE  :  Recollections,  II.  2.  Goethe 
quotes  this  remark,  and  adds,  "Yet  he  never  read  him."  lie 
therefore  accounted  for  Napoleon's  high  opinion  of  the  French 
poet  by  the  fact  that  "  the  personal  character  of  the  writer  in- 
fluences the  public  rather  than  his  talents  as  an  artist."  -  Con- 
versations with  Eckermann. 

Napoleon  also  said  of  Corneille,  "Great  men  are  truer  to  life 
in  his  works  than  in  history  "  (Les  grands  homines  y  sont  plus 
vrais  que  dans  Vhistoire). 


406  NAPOLEON  I. 


Her  who  has  borne  the  most  children. 

Las  Cases  records  the  celebrated  encounter  of  Bonaparte  with 
Mme.  de  Stael,  who  had  at  first  sought  to  gain  his  favor,  thrust- 
ing herself  upon  his  notice,  even  at  inopportune  moments. 
Thus  she  replied  to  the  chamberlain  who  told  her  that  she  could 
not  see  the  First  Consul,  who  was  then  taking  a  bath,  "  Genius 
has  no  sex"  (Le  genie  n'a  pas  de  sexe).  On  the  occasion  above 
referred  to,  she  carried  her  desire  for  a  compliment  to  the  ex- 
treme of  asking  Bonaparte  whom  he  considered  the  greatest 
woman  in  the  world :  "  Her  who  has  borne  the  most  children," 
was  the  ungallant  reply  Unwilling  to  leave  the  field,  she  re- 
torted, "  You  are  not  thought  to  like  women ;  "  to  which  Bona- 
parte rejoined,  "Madame,  I  am  very  fond  of  my  wife,"  and  the 
"  incident  "  was  closed.  Napoleon  once  confessed  that  he  wras  not 
amiable :  "I  am  not  amiable,  I  never  have  been,  but  I  am  just;  " 
and  he  said  at  another  time,  "  Friendship  is  but  a  name,  I  love 


no  one." 


The  English  are  a  nation  of  shopkeepers. 

This  mot  will  cling  to  Napoleon  in  the  absence  of  any  author- 
ity. It  may  have  been  suggested  by  a  remark  in  an  oration 
of  Samuel  Adams  delivered  in  Philadelphia,  Aug.  1,  1776,  and 
published  in  London.  Like  the  comparison  between  "  the  sub- 
lime and  the  ridiculous,"  the  expression  is  a  not  uncommon  one. 
Barere,  in  a  speech  in  the  Convention,  June  11,  1794,  in  defence 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  said,  "Let  Pitt,  then,  boast  of  his 
shop-keeping  nation  "  (set  nation  boutiquiere).  The  Emperor 
Francis  II.  said  to  Napoleon  in  1805,  "The  English  are  a  nation 
of  merchants.  To  secure  for  themselves  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  they  are  willing  to  set  the  Continent  in  flames."  Scott, 
in  his  "  Life  of  Napoleon,''  and  the  English  press,  fixed  the 
remark  upon  the  emperor.  Tucker,  Dean  of  Gloucester  (1711- 
1799),  wrote :  "What  is  true  of  a  shopkeeper  is  true  of  a  shop- 
keeping  nation." —  Tract,  1766. 

My  riches  consist  in  glory  and  celebrity. 

Napoleon  said  that  it  was  not  until  after  the  terrible  passage 
of  the  Bridge  of  Lodi,  May  10,  1796,  "  that  the  idea  entered  my 


NAPOLEON  I.  407 


mind  that  I  might  become  a  decisive  actor  in  the  political 
arena."  He  spoke  in  a  letter  on  the  Poor  Laws,  to  the  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  of  not  living  in  vain,  "  that  we  may  leave  some 
impress  of  our  lives  on  the  sands  of  time/' 

"  And,  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time." 

LONGFELLOW:  A  Psalm  of  Life. 

This  saying  is  also  attributed  to  Napoleon:  "It  would  be  better 
for  a  man  never  to  have  lived,  than  not  to  leave  behind  him 
traces  of  his  existence;''  and  again.-  "Better  never  to  have 
been  born  than  to  live  without  glory." 

He  said  to  the  ambassador  of  Alexander  I.,  whose  liberal 
ideas  he  held  in  but  little  esteem,  "Teach  your  master  that 
great  states  are  governed  by  the  head,  not  by  the  heart." 

"Victory,"  he  declared,  "belongs  to  the  most  persevering.  ' 

When  filling  the  great  offices  of  state,  where  eloquence  was 
more  common  than  practical  ideas,  he  said,  "  I  want  more  head, 
and  less  tongue." 

He  defined  his  politics  to  be,  "I  will  and  I  won't!  "  (Je  ne 
veux  pas,  ou  je  veux,  voilcL  ma  politique  ') 

"I  fear  three  newspapers,"  he  once  remarked,  "more  than  a 
hundred  thousand  bayonets. "  Wendell  Phillips  has  said,  "  The 
penny-papers  of  New  York  dc  more  to  govern  this  country  than 
the  White  House  at  Washington  ;  ''  and  again,  "  We  live  under 
a  government  of  men  and  morning  newspapers." 

AVhen  meditating  an  expedition  to  the  East,  to  strike  a  blow 
at  England  through  her  Indian  possessions,  Napoleon  said,  "  The 
Persians  have  blocked  up  the  route  of  Tamerlane  :  I  will  discover 
another." 


Gentlemen,  will  you  have  the  goodness  to  fire : 

When  reproached  with  not  making  war  according  to  old- 
fashioned  methods,  Napoleon  referred  to  the  famous  incident  of 
the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  May  11,  1745,  by  saying,  "  The  time  has 
passed  in  which  enemies  are  mutually  to  appoint  the  place  of 
combat,  advance  hat  in  hand,  and  say,  '  Gentlemen,  will  you 
have  the  goodness  to  fire !  '  Lord  Charles  Hay,  according  to 
the  tradition  of  this  battle,  at  the  head  of  a  massed  triangular 


408  NAPOLEON  I. 


battalion  of  infantry,  raised  his  hat  when  at  fifty  paces  from  the 
French,  and  said,  "  Gentlemen  of  the  French  guard,  fire  first." 
Their  commander,  Comte  d'Auteroches,  advancing  on  his  side, 
replied,  "After  you,  MM.  les  Anglais.-  we  never  fire  first!"  (Nous 
ne  tirons  jamais  les  premiers!)  This  courtesy  cost  the  French 
dear,  a  terrible  discharge  from  the  English  carrying  away  the 
whole  of  their  front  line.  Carlyle,  who  tells  the  story  ("  French 
Revolution,"  XV.  8.),  adds,  "Is  not  this  a  bit  of  modern  chiv- 
alry !  A  supreme  politeness  in  that  sniffing  pococurante  kind." 
He  mentions,  however,  a  letter  dictated  by  the  wounded  Hay 
three  weeks  after  the  battle,  who  writes  that  he  advanced  before 
his  regiment,  drank  to  the  French  from  his  pocket-flask,  told 
them  he  commanded  the  English  guards,  and  hoped  they  would 
stand  firm  until  he  came  up  to  them,  turned  to  his  regiment 
and  made  them  huzza ;  at  which  d'Auteroches  came  out,  and 
tried  to  make  his  men  huzza,  which  they  did  in  a  feeble  man- 
ner. The  Marquis  de  Yalfons,  an  eye-witness,  tells  the  story, 
however,  as  it  is  generally  understood.  —  Souvenirs,  Paris,  1800, 
143 ;  v.  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  Feb.  10,  1851. 

Imagination  rules  the  world. 

One  of  the  principles  upon  which  Napoleon  acted  through 
life.  —  BOURRIENNE,  II.  2.  France,  in  his  opinion,  needed  to 
be  constantly  dazzled  by  brilliant  successes.  He  said  of  the 
Directory  at  the  outset  of  his  career  :  "  They  cannot  long  retain 
their  position :  they  do  not  know  how  to  do  any  thing  for  the 
imagination  of  the  nation." 

The  maxim  that  "  Knowledge  is  power,"  he  transformed  into 
"Intelligence  has  rights  before  force.  Force  without  intelli- 
gence is  nothing." 

He  once  gave  his  own  horse  to  a  messenger,  saying,  "  Nothing 
is  too  good  for  a  French  soldier.'' 

He  refused  to  be  present  at  a  celebration  of  the  death  of 
Louis  XVI.,  because,  in  his  opinion,  "to  celebrate  the  anni- 
versary of  a  man's  death  is  an  act  unworthy  of  a  government." 

Sieyes  once  alluded  to  the  late  king  as  a  tyrant :  Bonaparte 
at  once  corrected  him,  "  If  he  had  been  a  tyrant,  I  should  not 
be  here,  and  you  would  be  saying  mass/'  Mme.  Elisabeth,  the 
king's  sister,  said  on  her  trial,  "  You  call  my  brother  a  tyrant 


NAPOLEON  I.  409 


If  he  had  been  what  you  say,  you  would  not  be  where  you  are, 
nor  I  before  you." 

Napoleon  once  said  of  the  Austrian  Archduke  Charles,  "  He  is 
a  good  man,  which  includes  every  thing  when  said  of  a  prince." 
Michelet,  in  his  "  History  of  France,"  quotes  the  saying  of  old 
France,  apropos  of  Jeanne  Dare,  "  Great  hearts  alone  understand 
how  much  glory  there  is  in  being  good." 

One  of  Napoleon's  most  fortunate  personal  characteristics  was 
his  ability  to  sleep  when  he  wished,  and  to  make  but  little  suf- 
fice. "  Two  or  three  hours'  sleep,"  he  used  to  say,  "  is  enough 
for  any  man."  At  another  time  he  said,  "  Different  matters  are 
arranged  in  my  head  as  in  drawers  :  I  open  one  drawer,  and  close 
another,  as  I  wish.  If  I  desire  repose,  I  shut  up  all  the  drawers, 
and  sleep." 

Prance  needs  nothing  so  much,  to  promote  her  regen- 
eration, as  good  mothers. 

The  French,  so  brave  in  the  field,  have  no  civic  cour- 
age. 

A  man  is  not  a  soldier. 

In  the  instructions  to  his  ministers  at  the  time  of  the  Wal- 
cheren  expedition,  meaning  that  discipline  was  every  thing,  — 
THIERS  :  Consulate  and  Empire,  Bk.  36.  At  another  time  he 
said,  "  The  worse  the  man,  the  better  the  soldier ;  if  soldiers 
be  not  corrupt,  they  must  be  made  so."  The  maxim  of  Tilly, 
who  remorselessly  ravaged  the  Palatinate  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  was,  "A  bright  musket,  but  a  ragged  soldier." 

In  resigning  myself  to  life,  I  accept  nameless  tortures. 
No  matter :  I  will  endure  them. 

After  his  first  abdication,  in  1814.  He  said  at  this  time,  "  The 
love  of  country  is  the  love  of  one's  self,  of  one's  position,  of  one's 
personal  interest." 

He  had  already  expressed  the  following  opinion  of  suicide : 
"  To  give  one's  self  up  to  grief  without  resistance,  to  kill  one's 
self  to  escape  it,  is  to  leave  the  field  of  battle  without  gaining 
the  day"  (S'abandonner  au  chagrin  sans  y  re'sister,  se  tuer  pour  s'y 
soustraire,  c'est  abandonner  le  champ  de  bataille  sans  avoir  vaincu). 


410  NAPOLEON  I. 


In  the  affecting  scene  of  his  separation  from  the  Old  Guard, 
he  kissed  the  eagle  of  France,  exclaiming,  "  Dear  eagle,  may 
this  last  embrace  vibrate  forever  in  the  hearts  of  all  my  faith 
f ul  soldiers  !  " 

On  his  return  from  Elba,  in  March,  1815,  he  said  to  the  sol- 
diers who  were  sent  to  oppose  his  march  to  Paris,  "  I  am  your 
emperor :  fire  on  me  if  you  wish ;  fire  on  your  father ,  here  is 
my  bosom ! " 

It  was  during  the  Hundred  Days  that  he  compared  himself  to 
the  throne  :  "  The  throne  is  but  a  piece  of  gilded  wood  covered 
with  velvet  (Le  trone  en  lui-meme  n'est  quun  assemblage  dc.  quel- 
ques  pieces  de  bois  recouvertes  de  velours)  ;  the  throne  is  a  man, 
and  I  am  that  man,  with  my  indomitable  will,  my  inflexible  tem- 
per, and  my  wide-spread  fame  "  (le  trone,  c'est  un  liomme,  et  cet 
liomme,  c'est  moi  avec  ma  volonte,  man  caractere,  et  ma  renommee).  — 
TRIERS  :  Consulate  and  Empire,  Bk.  51. 

Speaking  of  his  intended  reforms  at  this  time,  he  said,  "  I  have 
dwelt  a  year  in  Elba,-  and  there,  as  in  a  tomb,  I  have  heard  the 
voice  of  posterity  "  (Je  viens  de  demeurer  une  anne'e  a  rile  d'Elbe  : 
et  la,  comme  dans  un  tombeau,  fai  pu  entendre  la  voix  de  la  pos- 
ter it  e'). 

Visiting  Malmaison,  after  Maria  Louisa  had  abandoned  his 
fortunes,  and  Josephine  was  no  more,  the  inconstancy  of  the 
former  impressed  him  so  strongly  as  to  cause  him  to  revert  to 
the  first  object  of  his  affections,  with  the  words,  "She  would  not 
have  deserted  me  ! "  Josephine  had  lived  long  enough  to  wit- 
ness his  first  abdication.  "If  he  had  but  listened  to  me!"  was 
the  only  reproach  she  uttered. 

You  have  the  fidelity  of  cats,  who  never  leave  the 
house. 

He  replied  to  M.  de  Segur  and  others  whom  he  met  at  the 
Tuileries,  after  his  return  from  Elba,  and  who  assured  him  of 
their  fidelity,  "There  are  two  kinds  of  fidelity,  —  that  of  dogs 
and  that  of  cats  :  you,  gentlemen,  have  the  fidelity  of  cats,  who 
never  leave  the  house."  When  told  that  Fox  still  loved  France 
after  the  dethronement  of  the  royal  family,  Burke  remarked, 
"  He  is  like  a  cat :  he  is  fond  of  the  house,  though  the  family  is 
gone." 


NAPOLEON  I.  411 


Napoleon  bade  adieu  to  the  coast  of  France  from  the  deck  of 
the  "  Northumberland,"  with  the  words,  "  Land  of  the  brave,  I 
salute  thee  !  Farewell,  France,  farewell !  " 

The  death  of  Christ  is  the  death  of  a  God. 

Rousseau  said,  "  Socrates  died  like  a  philosopher,  Jesus  Christ 
like  a  God." 

Napoleon  conversed  frequently  on  religious  subjects  at  St. 
Helena.  The  following  remarks  are  recorded  by  O'Meara,  "  Na- 
poleon in  Exile  :  "  — 

What  a  solace  Christianity  must  be  to  one  who  has  an  un- 
doubted conviction  of  its  truth  ! 

I  know  man,  and  I  tell  you  that  Jesus  Christ  is  not  a  man. 
The  religion  of  Christ  is  a  mystery  which  subsists  by  its  own 
force,  and  proceeds  from  a  mind  which  is  not  a  human  mind. 

Alexander,  Caesar,  Charlemagne,  and  myself  have  founded  em- 
pires. But  upon  what  did  we  rest  the  creations  of  our  genius  ? 
Upon  force.  Jesus  Christ  alone  founded  his  empire  upon  love, 
and  at  this  moment  millions  of  men  would  die  for  him. 

There  is  between  Christianity  and  all  other  religions  what- 
ever the  distance  of  infinity. 

The  Christian  religion  is  neither  ideology  nor  metaphysics ; 
but  a  practical  rule,  which  directs  the  actions  of  man,  corrects 
him,  counsels  him,  and  assists  him  in  all  his  conduct.  If  Chris- 
tianity is  not  a  true  religion,  one  is  very  excusable  in  being 
deceived ;  for  every  thing  in  it  is  grand,  and  worthy  of  God. 

Religion  is  the  dominion  of  the  soul.  It  is  the  hope  of  life, 
the  anchor  of  safety,  the  deliverance  of  the  soul. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  [Napoleon  said  during  the  expedition 
to  Egypt]  is  a  threat,  that  of  Mohammed  is  a  promise. 

The  gospel  alone  has  shown  a  full  and  complete  assemblage 
of  the  principles  of  morality  stripped  of  all  absurdity. 

During  the  voyage  to  St.  Helena,  he  interrupted  some  officers 
who  were  expressing  atheistical  sentiments,  by  pointing  to  the 
starry  sky,  and  saying,  "  Gentlemen,  your  arguments  are  very  fine ; 
but  who  made  all  those  worlds  beaming  so  gloriously  upon  us?  " 

A  man  cannot  become  an  atheist  by  merely  wishing  it  (n'est 
pas  athe'e  qui  veut). 

The  problems  of  Providence  are  insoluble. 


412  NAPOLEON  I. 


Europe  republican  or  Cossack. 

In  a  conversation  at  St.  Helena,  reported  by  Las  Cases  under 
date  of  April  8,  1816,  Napoleon  said,  "In  the  present  state  of 
things,  all  Europe  can  become  in  ten  years  Cossack  or  repub- 
lican "  (toute  en  republiques  ;  commonly  quoted  "  in  fifty  years  "). 

Most  of  the  following  sayings   are   quoted  from  O'Meara's 

"  Napoleon  in  Exile,''  or  from  the  emperor's  "  Table-Talk :  *'  — 

People  grow  quickly  on  fields  of  battle. 

In  revolutions  every  thing  is  forgotten.  The  benefits  you 
confer  to-day  are  forgotten  to-morrow.  To  O'Meara,  July  25, 
1816. 

Nothing  is  so  insulting  as  to  add  irony  to  injury.  (Ibid.,  of 
Sir  Hudson  Lowe's  treatment  of  him.)  The  pages  of  O'Meara 
are  filled  with  the  emperor's  complaints  of  the  English  gov- 
ernor. "  The  duty  of  a  spy,"  he  said  in  November,  1816,  "  agrees 
with  him  much  better  than  that  of  representing  a  great  nation  " 
(Le  metier  d'un  sbire  lui  convient  beaucoup  mieux  que  celui  de  repre- 
sentant  d'une  grande  nation);  and  again,  "  He  would  dissimulate  in 
saying  '  Good-morning  '  '  (//  metterait  de  I'astuce  a  dire  bon  jour}. 
In  April,  1817,  he  joined  Lowe  and  old  France  in  the  same  con- 
demnation :  "  He  has  the  appearance  of  a  sub-lieutenant  of  the 
old  regime"  {II  a  I' air  d'un  sous-lieutenant  de  Vancien  regime). 

I  ought  to  have  died  at  Waterloo  (<Taurais  du  mourir  a 
Waterloo). 

To  O'Meara,  April,  1817  At  another  time  he  said,  "The 
blow  I  received  at  Waterloo  is  mortal."  Necker,  witnessing 
the  enthusiasm  of  his  recall  to  power,  July  21,  1789,  observed, 
"  Now  is  the  moment  that  I  should  die  !  " 

Occupation  is  the  scythe  of  time.  (Resolving  to  write  his 
memoirs  during  his  captivity.) 

Tragedy  wrarms  the  soul,  elevates  the  heart,  can  and  ought 
to  create  heroes.  And  again,  "  High  tragedy  is  the  school  of 
great  men." 

How  many  superior  men  are  children  more  than  once  in  a 
day! 

A  man  like  me  is  always  a  god  or  a  devil,  un  dio  or  un  diavolo. 
(Of  public  opinion.) 


NAPOLEON  I.  413 


There  is  more  courage  in  supporting  an  existence  like  mine, 
than  in  abandoning  it.  —  Ibid  ,  Nov  9,  1816. 

Truth  alone  wounds  {La  verite  seule  blesxe)  —  Ibid  ,  March  14, 
1817 

Falsehood  passes,  truth  remains  (Les  mensonges  jmssent,  la 
verite  reste} — Ibid 

Experience,  experience,  is  every  thing  —  Ibid.,  April  15, 1817 

I  spring  from  the  populace  myself  (Je  sors  de  la  canaille,  moi- 
meme). 

Respect  the  burden,  madam. 

s 

(To  an  English  lady,  who  told  some  slaves,  toiling  up  a  hill 
with  a  burden,  to  step  out  of  Napoleon's  path  ) 

If  St.  Helena  were  France,  I  should  love  even  this  frightful 
rock. 

My  fall  has  elevated  me  prodigiously.  Every  succeeding  day 
divests  me  of  some  portion  of  my  tyrant's  skin. 

I,  too,  am  forgotten.  The  name  of  a  conqueror  and  an  em- 
peror is  a  college  theme. 

No  man's  loss  is  irreparable.  No  man  is  necessary,  nor  I,  nor 
Caesar,  nor  Alexander.  The  world  must  go  on. 

The  only  encouragement  of  literature  is  to  give  the  poet  a 
position  in  the  state. 

Rome  is  undoubtedly  the  capital  which  one  day  the 
Italians  will  select. 

(At  St.  Helena.) 

Europe  is  but  a  mole-hill :  there  have  never  existed  mighty 
empires,  there  have  never  occurred  great  revolutions,  save  in  the 
East,  where  live  six  hundred  millions  of  men,  —  the  cradle  of  all 
religions,  the  birthplace  of  all  metaphysics. 

All  great  reputations  come  from  the  East. 

I  intended  the  Mediterranean  to  be  a  French  lake. 

The  only  victory  over  love  is  flight. 

"  Then  fly  betimes,  for  only  they 
Conquer  love,  that  run  away." 

CAKEW:  Conquest  by  Flight. 

Love  does  more  harm  than  good. 


414  NAPOLEOX  I. 


Love  should  be  a  pleasure,  not  a  torment.  (Of  the  "  Xouvelle 
Heloise.") 

Love  should  be  the  occupation  of  the  idle  man,  the  distraction 
of  the  warrior,  the  rock  of  the  sovereign. 

"  Love  seldom  haunts  the  breast  where  learning  lies, 
And  Venus  sets  ere  Mercury  can  rise." 

POPE  :  The  Wife  of  Bath. 

All  the  women  in  the  world  would  not  make  me  lose  an 
hour. 

He  who  is  unmoved  by  tears  has  no  heart. 

Passionate  people  always  deny  their  anger,  and  cowards  often 
boast  of  their  ignorance  of  fear. 

Great  ambition  is  the  passion  of  a  great  character 

Flatterers  and  learned  men  do  not  agree  together. 

When  a  man  is  determined  to  hold  a  place  [under  gov- 
ernment], he  has  already  sold  himself  to  it.  (Pompey,  when 
landing  on  the  coast  of  Egypt,  where  he  was  murdered  after 
Pharsalia,  repeated  two  lines  of  Sophocles  :  — 

"  Whoever  comes  within  a  tyrant's  door 
Becomes  his  slave,  though  he  were  free  before.") 

Samuel  Rogers  expressed  the  same  idea :  "  Places  are  given  away 
by  government  as  often  for  the  sake  of  silencing  animosity  as  in 
the  hope  of  assistance  from  the  parties  benefited." 

Men  are  led  by  trifles. 

Public  instruction  should  be  the  first  object  of  government. 

Public  esteem  is  the  reward  of  honest  men. 

There  are  two  levers  for  moving  men,  — interest  and  fear. 

A  sect  cannot  be  destroyed  by  cannon-balls. 

Courage  may  defend  a  crown,  but  infamy  never. 

A  faithful  friend  is  the  true  image  of  Deity. 

My  principle  was,  the  career  open  to  talents  (La  car- 
ri"ere  ouverte  aux  talents,  voila  mon  principe). 

To  O'Meara.  It  was  the  maxim  which  he  expressed  in  other 
words  by  saying,  "Every  French  soldier  carries  in  his  knapsack 
the  baton  of  a  marshal  of  France"  (Tout  soldat  fran?ais  jmrte 
dans  sa  giberne  le  baton  de  mare'chal  de  France).  Appius  Claudius 


NAPOLEON  I.  415 


said,  "Everyman  is  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune"  (Faber 
est  suce  quisque  fortunce)  ;  as  the  French  proverb  expresses  it,  "Un 
homme  est  lefts  de  ses  ceuvres  "  (A  man  is  the  child  of  his  works), 
which  is,  however,  derived  from  the  Spanish  ("  Don  Quixote,"  I. 
iv.  20). 

I  have  always  gone  with  the  opinion  of  great  masses  and  with 
events  (J'ai  toujours  marche  avec  {'opinion  des  grandes  masses  et 
les  evenements).  To  O'Meara,  March  3,  1817. 

Before  my  reign,  the  oath  taken  by  the  French  kings  was,  to 
exterminate  all  heretics.  At  my  coronation  I  swore  to  protect 
all  worships.  —  Ibid.,  April  3,  1817. 

An  aristocracy  is  the  true,  the  only  support  of  a  monarchy. 
Without  it  the  state  is  a  vessel  without  a  rudder,  —  a  balloon  in 
the  air. 

Of  the  elaborate  system  of  jurisprudence  with  which  he  en- 
dowed France,  he  said,  "  I  shall  go  down  to  posterity  with  the 
Code  in  my  hand." 

I  failed  :    therefore,   according  to   all  justice,    I  was 
wrong. 

Posterity  will  do  me  justice.     (To  O'Meara,  March  3,  1817.) 
When  firmness  is  sufficient,  rashness  is  unnecessary. 
I  have  always  thought  that  sovereignty  resides  in  the  people. 
The  empire,  as  I  organized  it,  was  but  a  great  republic.     Again 
he  said,  "  Great  things  can  only  be  done  in  France  by  having 
the  support  of  the  mass  of  the  people." 

Tete  d'armee  !  France  !  France  ! 

Napoleon's  last  words,  May  5,  1821.  In  a  codicil  to  his  will, 
dated  April  16  of  that  year,  he  said,  "  I  wish  my  ashes  to  repose 
on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  in  the  midst  of  the  French  people  I 
have  loved  so  well !  "  (Je  desire  que  mes  cendres  reposent  sur  les 
bords  de  la  Seine,  au  milieu  de  ce  peuple  Jran^ais  que  fai  (ant 
aime!) 

In  1830  the  Prince  de  Joinville,  son  of  Louis  Philippe,  con- 
veyed the  remains  of  Napoleon  to  France  in  a  man-of-war. 
Littre  said  of  the  rejoicing  in  Paris  when  the  emperor  was 
buried  under  the  dome  of  the  Invalides,  "Could  he  have  returned 
to  life,  he  would  certainly  have  slept  that  night  in  the  Tuileries." 


416  NAPOLEON  III. 


FAPOLEON  III. 

[Charles  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  son  of  Louis  Bonaparte  and 
Hortense  de  Beauharnais;  born  in  Paris,  April  20,  1808;  registered  at 
the  head  of  the  family  in  preference  to  the  children  of  the  older 
brothers  of  Napoleon  I. ;  educated  in  Switzerland ;  attempt  on  Stras- 
burg,  1836;  banished  to  the  United  States;  returned  to  Europe,  1837; 
arrested  at  Boulogne,  1840;  escaped  from  Ham,  1846;  member  of  the 
French  Assembly,  1848;  elected  President  of  the  Republic,  December 
of  that  year;  effected  the  coup  d'etat,  Dec.  2,  1851;  Emperor  of  the 
French,  November,  1852;  declared  war  against  Russia,  March,  1854; 
against  Austria,  May,  1859;  against  Mexico,  1862;  against  Prussia, 
July,  1870;  surrendered  at  Sedan;  removed  to  Cassel,  and  thence  to 
England,  where  he  died  Jan.  9,  1873.] 

I  believe  that  I  have  a  mission  to  fulfil :  I  shall  know 
how  to  act  my  part  until  the  end  ( Je  saurais  garder  mon 
rolejusqu'a  la  fin). 

In  his  defence,  November,  1836,  after  the  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  proclaim  himself  emperor,  and  take  possession  of  the  citadel 
of  Strasburg.  This  is  the  "  Napoleonic  idea"  which  supported 
him  for  years  in  exile  or  unsuccessful  conspiracy.  Thus  when 
addressing  the  court  at  Paris,  April  5,  1840,  after  his  arrest  at 
Boulogne,  he  said,  "  I  represent  before  you  a  principle,  a  cause, 
and  a  defeat :  the  principle  is  the  sovereignty  of  the  people  ;  the 
cause  is  the  empire;  the  defeat  is  Waterloo :  you  have  recognized 
the  principle,  you  have  served  the  cause,  you  will  avenge  the 
defeat ! "  On  departing  for  the  fortress  of  Ham,  to  which  he 
was  sentenced,  he  consoled  himself  with  the  thought,  "  With  the 
name  I  bear,  I  must  have  either  the  obscurity  of  the  dungeon,  or 
the  light  of  power  "  (il  me  faut  I'ombre  cTun  cachot  ou  la  lumiere 
du  pouvoir). 

L' empire,  c'est  la,  paix. 

While  preparing  the  coup  d'etat,  he  uttered  many  remarks 
tending  to  pacify  or  mislead  the  public.  At  his  entrance  into 
public  life  in  France,  he  said  to  the  President  of  the  National 
Assembly,  June  14,  1848,  while  awaiting  admission  to  that  body, 
"If  the  people  repose  duties  upon  me,  I  shall  know  how  to  per- 
form them."  Endeavoring  to  crown  himself  with  the  laurels  of 
the  first  empire,  he  declared,  "  My  name  is  the  symbol  of  order, 


NAPOLEON  III.  417 


nationality,  and  glory."  He  made  a  very  strong  statement  a 
short  time  before  the  coup  d'etat :  "  I  should  regard  that  man  as 
the  enemy  of  my  country,  who  should  attempt  to  change  by  force 
what  is  established  by  law  "  (Je  verrais  un  ennemi  de  mon  pays 
dans  quiconque  voudrait  changer  par  la  force  ce  qui  est  e'tabli  par  la 
loi}.  To  the  officers  of  regiments  lately  arrived  in  Paris,  he  said, 
Nov.  9,  1851,  ''If  ever  the  day  of  danger  should  arise,  I  would 
not  do  like  the  governments  that  have  preceded  me :  I  would  not 
say,  '  March,  I  follow  you,'  but,  '  I  march,  follow  me.' ' 

After  the  overthrow  of  the  republic  had  been  confirmed  by 
the  plebiscite,  or  popular  vote  of  7,800,000  in  favor  of  the  empire, 
the  emperor  said  to  the  Corps  Legislatif :  "  France  has  com- 
prehended that  I  went  outside  the  law  to  enter  into  justice." 
Victor  Hugo  ("  L'Histoire  d'un  Crime  ")  attributes  a  personal 
motive  to  him,  in  quoting  his  severe  reply  to  a  lady  who  besought 
his  clemency  towards  one  of  the  prisoners  of  the  coup  d'etat: 
"  Madame,  I  excuse  your  gallantries,  excuse  my  hatreds  "  (Je 
vous  passe  vos  amours,  passez-moi  mes  liaines). 

The  emperor's  son,  the  late  Prince  Imperial,  is  said  to  have 
remarked  during  the  exile  which  followed  the  overthrow  of  the 
empire,  "I  will  not  drag  at  my  heel  the  ball  of  the  coup  d'etat" 
referring  to  the  ball  and  chain  worn  by  galley-slaves. 

Louis  Napoleon  made  an  address  to  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Bordeaux,  Oct.  9,  1852,  after  the  coup  d'etat,  but  while 
he  was  still  prince-president,  in  which  occurred  the  famous  ex- 
pression, "The  empire  is  peace,"  in  contradiction  to  those  who 
feared  that  the  approaching  empire  meant  war.  Biichmann 
quotes  the  parody  of  "  Kladderadatch,"  Nov.  8,  1862,  "  Uempire, 
c'est  repee"  (a  sword). 


Italy,  free  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic. 

In  his  proclamation  on  leaving  Paris  for  the  Italian  war  of 
1859,  he  said,  "Austria  has  brought  things  to  such  a  pass  that 
she  must  lord  it  up  to  the  Alps,  or  else  Italy  must  be  free  up  to 
the  Adriatic."  Victor  Emmanuel  caught  up  the  antithesis  in  an 
address  to  the  people  of  Italy,  June  9,  1859,  after  the  victory  of 
Magenta  had  opened  to  him  the  gates  of  Milan :  "  Napoleon, 
putting  himself  at  the  head  of  the  heroic  army  of  the  great 
nation,  wishes  to  liberate  Italy  from  the  Alps  to  the  Adriatic." 


418  NAPOLEON  III. 


No  one  felt  more  keenly  the  abrupt  termination  of  the  war, 
which  deceived  the  hopes  of  liberal  Italy,  than  the  patriot  Rica- 
soli,  who  exclaimed,  "  After  [the  peace  of]  Villa  Franca,  I  spat 
upon  my  life  "  (Dopo  Villa  Franca  ho  sputato  suila  mia  vita). 

Napoleon  III.  adopted  an  expression  attributed  to  Sieyes  in 
1793,  in  speaking  of  the  Rhine  as  the  "  natural  boundary  ':l  of 
France.  Biichmann  refers  it,  however,  to  a  proclamation  of  the 
Dauphin,  afterwards  Louis  XL,  as  early  as  1444.  On  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  between  Germany  and  France,  during  the 
minority  of  Louis  XIV.,  the  "  Gazette  de  France  "  announced, 
"The  French  army  may  henceforward  fearlessly  water  their 
horses  in  the  Rhine." 

The  only  jeu  d'esprit  which  can  be  assigned  to  the  emperor 
was  his  question  how  under  the  circumstances  it  was  supposed 
the  government  could  be  carried  on:  "The  empress  is  legitimist, 
Morny  Orleanist,  my  cousin  Napoleon  republican,  I  am  some- 
thing of  a  socialist,  the  only  Bonapartist  is  Persigny,  and  he  is 
a  fool!" 

Louis  has  just  received  his  baptism  of  fire. 

In  a  despatch  to  the  empress  after  the  affair  of  Saarbriick, 
Aug.  10,  1870,  in  which  the  Prince  Imperial  was  exposed  to  the 
en-emy's  fire.  Napoleon  I.  said  at  St.  Helena,  Aug.  2,  1817, 
"I  love  a  brave  soldier  who  has  undergone  the  baptism  of  fire 
(le  bapteme  de  feu),  to  whatever  nation  he  may  belong." 

When,  in  his  childhood,  the  Prince  Imperial  asked  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "exile,"  the  emperor  replied,  prophetically  it 
would  seem,  "  That  will  be  explained  to  you  when  you  are 
older." 

The  words  with  which  Napoleon  III.  passed  off  the  stage  of 
action  were  addressed  to  the  King  of  Prussia,  in  his  letter  of 
surrender,  Sept.  1,  1870 :  "  Not  being  able  to  die  in  the  midst 
of  my  troops,  it  only  remains  for  me  to  place  my  sword  in  the 
hands  of  your  Majesty  "  (N' ay  ant  pas  pu  mourir  au  milieu  de  mes 
troupes,  il  ne  me  reste  plus  qu'a  remettre  mon  e'pe'e  entre  les  mains  de 
votre  Majeste).  Gambetta  had  by  this  time  dubbed  him  "the 
Man  of  Sedan." 

Jules  Simon,  one  of  the  handful  of  Liberals  in  the  Corps 
Legislatif  of  1867,  summed  up  +he  character  of  the  second 


LORD  NELSON.  419 


empire  in  the  words,  "  Csesarism  is  democracy  without  liberty  ' 
(Le    ce'sariime,   c'est    la    democrat  ie   sans    la    liber(e').  -  -  TAXILE 
DELORD  :  UHistoire  du  Second  Empire. 

Lamennais  declared  of  the  emperor  when  prince-president, 
"  That  man  has  no  sentiment  of  good  or  evil,  —  only  the  senti- 
ment of  self"  (Cet  homme  ria  pas  le  sentiment  ni  du  bien  ni  du 
mal :  il  ria  pas  le  sentiment  que  de  soi-meme). 

LOUD  NELSON. 

[Horatio  Nelson;  born  in  Norfolk,  England,  Sept.  29,  1758;  went 
to  sea  at  the  age  of  thirteen;  served  in  the  East  Indies,  and  in  the 
American  war;  obtained  a  ship,  1793;  rear-admiral  after  the  victory 
of  St.  Vincent,  1797;  lost  his  right  arm  in  an  attack  on  Teneriffe; 
gained  the  battle  of  the  Nile  against  the  French,  1798,  and  created 
Baron  Nelson  of  the  Nile;  won  the  battle  of  the  Baltic,  1801,  and 
made  Viscount  Nelson  and  Bronte;  took  command  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean fleet,  1803;  mortally  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  Oct. 
21,  1805.] 

I'll  have  a  gazette  of  my  own. 

The  English  besieged  the  town  of  Calvi  in  Corsica,  June  12, 
1794,  which  surrendered  after  fifty-nine  days.  Nelson's  services 
were  overlooked  in  the  official  report ;  and  his  name  was  not  even 
mentioned  in  the  list  of  wounded,  though  he  lost  an  eye.  Writ- 
ing to  Lord  Hood,  he  said,  "They  have  not  done  me  justice, 
but  nevermind,  I'll  have  a  gazette  of  my  own.''  —  SOUTHEY: 
Life.  His  bravery  and  energy  enabled  him  to  say  of  himself, 
"  If  I  am  in  the  field  of  glory  I  cannot  be  kept  out  of  sight."  — 
Ibid. 

After  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  Aug.  1,  1798,  being  unable  to 
pursue  the  enemy  for  want  of  means,  he  exclaimed,  "  Were  1  to 
die  at  this  moment,  want  of  frigates  would  be  found  stamped  on 
my  heart;  "  in  imitation  of  Queen  Mary's  bitter  regret  for  the 
loss  of  the  last  English  possession  in  France :  "  When  I  die, 
*  Calais  '  will  be  found  written  on  my  heart." 

When  rising  from  table  on  the  eve  of  the  battle,  Nelson  said, 
"  Before  this  time  to-morrow  I  shall  have  gained  a  peerage  or 
Westminster  Abbey." 

On  being  apprised  of  a  signal  to  stop  firing  at  the  battle  of  the 
Baltic,  March  3,  1801,  where  he  was  second  in  command,  Nelson 


420  LORD  NELSON. 


put  his  blind  eye  to  the  glass,  saying,  "  I  really  do  not  see  the 
signal.  I  have  only  one  eye :  I  have  a  right  to  be  blind  some- 
times." The  firing  continued,  and  resulted  in  a  victory.  "He 
had  won  the  day,"  says  Southey,  his  biographer,  "by  disobeying 
orders." 

England  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty. 

Nelson's  signal  to  the  fleet  before  the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  Oct. 
21,  1805.  The  narrative  of  Capt.  Pasco,  Nelson's  flag-lieutenant 
on  "  The  Victory,"  is  as  follows  :  "  His  lordship  came  to  me  on 
the  poop,  and,  after  ordering  certain  signals,  about  a  quarter  to 
noon,  said  :  '  Mr.  Pasco,  I  wish  to  say  to  the  fleet,  "  England  con- 
fides that  every  man  will  do  his  duty;"  '  and  he  added,  'You 
must  be  quick  :  for  I  have  one  more  to  make,  which  is  for  close 
action.'  I  replied, '  If  your  lordship  will  permit  me  to  substitute 
"expects"  for  " confides,"  the  signal  will  soon  be  completed;  be- 
cause the  word  "expects  "  is  in  the  vocabulary,  whereas  the  word 
"  confides  "  must  be  spelled.'  His  lordship  was  satisfied  with  the 
change."  Capt.  Blackwood,  who  commanded  "The  Euryalus  " 
in  the  battle,  says  that  the  correction  suggested  by  the  signal- 
officer  was  from  "  Nelson  expects  "  to  "  England  expects  ;  "  but 
Capt.  Pasco's  account  is  preferred. 

In  honor  I  gained  them,  and  in  honor  I  will  die  with 
them. 

Of  his  decorations  in  the  battle  of  Trafalgar.  Some  writers 
have  asserted  that  Nelson  put  on  a  full-dress  uniform,  the  stars 
and  orders  of  which  were  so  brilliant  as  to  attract  the  enemy's 
musketeers ;  but  Dr.  Scott,  his  friend  and  chaplain,  in  whose 
arms  he  died,  sa}*s  that  the  admiral  wore  the  same  undress  coat 
as  on  the  previous  day ;  that  four  stars  were  embroidered  on  it 
in  the  form  of  a  diamond,  and  not  fixed  temporarily  with  clasps 
as  is  now  the  custom.  This  coat  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  curi- 
osity-dealer, but  was  purchased  by  the  late  Prince  Consort,  and 
given  to  Greenwich  Hospital.  No  sword  was  worn  at  Trafalgar, 
the  only  action  in  which  Nelson  appeared  without  it.  It  had 
been  left  on  his  table,  and  was  never  called  for. 

Having  been  struck  through  the  left  epaulet,  at  a  quarter 
after  one  in  the  afternoon,  Nelson  soon  perceived  that  his  wound 


NERO.  4.21 

was  mortal,  and  gave  his  last  orders  and  requests.  After  asking 
Capt.  Hardy  to  kiss  him,  he  said,  "  Now  I  am  satisfied.  Thank 
God,  I  have  done  my  duty."  These  words  he  repeatedly  pro- 
nounced, and  they  were  the  last  which  he  uttered. 

NERO. 

[Lucius  Domitius  ^Enobarbus,  called  Nero  after  his  mother's  mar- 
riage to  the  Emperor  Claudius,  by  whom  he  was  adopted  ;  born 
Dec.  15,  A.D.  37;  proclaimed  emperor,  54;  his  first  years  of  rule  were 
marked  by  kindness  and  justice;  his  last,  by  a  series  of  atrocities, 
which  led  to  a  conspiracy,  on  the  discovery  of  which  and  the  defec- 
tion of  the  praetorian  guards,  Nero  killed  himself,  A.D.  08.] 

I  wish  I  had  never  learned  to  read  and  write !  (Quam 
vellem  ne  scire  litteras  !) 

When  called  upon,  early  in  his  reign,  to  subscribe  the  sen- 
tence, according  to  custom,  of  a  criminal  condemned  to  die.  — 
SUETOXIUS  :  Life.  Racine,  in  his  "  Britannicus,"  puts  the  early 
clemency  of  the  emperor  into  the  mouth  of  Burrhus,  pleading 
for  the  life  of  Britannicus  :  — 

"  Votre  cceur  s'accusait  de  trop  de  cruaute, 
Et  plaignant  les  malheurs  attaches  a  1'ernpire 
Je  voudrais,  disiez-vous,  ne  savoir  pas  ecrire." 

Thus  Shakespeare  makes  Caliban  say  ("Tempest,"  I.  2), — 

"  You  taught  me  language,  and  my  profit  on't 
Is,  I  know  how  to  curse;  the  red  plague  rid  you 
For  learning  me  your  language  !  " 

This  was  during  the  good  years  of  Nero's  reign,  when  he  re- 
plied to  the  senate's  thanks  for  his  mild  government,  "It  will  be 
time  enough  to  do  so  when  I  shall  have  deserved  it." —  Ibid. 

Upon  the  dedication  of  his  "  Golden  House,"  which  extended 
from  the  Palatine  to  the  Esquiline  Hills,  the  porch  of  which 
was  so  high  that  there  stood  in  it  a  colossal  statue  of  himself,  a 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  height;  and  the  space  included  in  it 
was  so  ample,  that  it  had  triple  porticos  a  mile  in  length,  and  a 
lake  like  a  sea;  the  chief  banqueting-room  of  which  was  circular, 
and  revolved  perpetually  day  and  night,  in  imitation  of  the  mo- 
tions of  the  heavenly  bodies,  —  his  only  comment  was,  "Now  I 
am  lodged  like  a  man  "  (quasi  homo). 


422  SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON. 

Let  him  kill  me,  but  let  him  reign  ! 

The  words  of  Nero's  mother  Agrippina,  when  warned  by 
soothsayers  that  her  son  would  become  emperor  and  then  kill 
her.  Both  events  came  to  pass  ;  for,  after  depriving  her  of  all 
honor  and  power,  he  was  terrified  by  her  menaces  and  high  spirit, 
and  commanded  her  to  be  killed,  when  a  scheme  to  drown  her 
at  sea  had  failed.  From  that  time  he  destroyed  all  whom  his 
caprice  selected  for  death;  declaring  that  "no  prince  before  me 
ever  knew  the  extent  of  his  power." 

When  making  preparations  for  his  own  death  and  for  the 
funeral  pile,  at  the  country-house  of  his  freedman  Phaon,  four 
miles  from  Rome,  after  the  conspiracy  of  Galba  and  Vindex  had 
compelled  him  to  escape  from  the  capital,  he  was  heard  to  mur- 
mur, weeping  all  the  time,  "  What  an  artist  is  now  about  to 
perish  !  "  (Qualis  artifex  pereo  .') 

Hearing  the  approach  of  horses,  he  drove  a  dagger  into  his 
throat,  and  said  to  the  centurion,  who,  bursting  in  as  he  was  half 
dead,  applied  his  cloak  to  the  wound,  "  Is  this  your  fidelity  ?  " 
est  fides  ?)—Ibid. 


SIR  ISAAC  NEWTON. 

[A  celebrated  English  philosopher;  born  in  Lincolnshire,  1642; 
educated  at  Cambridge;  discovered  the  theory  of  fluxions  and  the 
law  of  gravitation,  1665;  professor  of  mathematics  at  Cambridge, 
1669  ;  wrote  "  The  Principia,"  1685-86  ;  master  of  the  mint,  1699  ; 
elected  to  Parliament,  and  President  of  the  Royal  Society,  1703; 
knighted,  1705;  died  March  20,  1727,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey.] 

I  cannot  calculate  the  madness  of  the  people. 

When  asked  how  high  he  thought  South  Sea  stock  would  rise. 

Being  asked  his  opinion  of  poetry,  he  replied,  "I'll  give  you 
that  of  Barrow  :  he  said  it  was  a  kind  of  ingenious  nonsense." 

His  biographer,  Sir  David  Brewster,  gives  but  does  not  vouch 
for  the  following  illustration  of  Newton's  absence  of  mind  :  "His 
friend  Dr.  Stukely  was  one  day  shown  into  Sir  Isaac's  dining- 
room,  where  dinner  had  for  some  time  been  served.  After  wait- 
ing until  he  became  impatient,  he  removed  the  cover  from  a 
chicken,  which  he  ate,  replacing  the  bones  under  the  cover.  In 


MARSHAL  NET.  423 


a  short  time  Sir  Isaac  entered  the  room,  and  sat  down  to  dinner, 
but,  removing  the  cover  and  seeing  nothing  but  bones,  remarked, 
"  How  absent  we  philosophers  are !  I  really  thought  I  had  not 
dined."  —  Life. 

Brewster  denies  the  story  of  Newton's  little  dog  Diamond 
overturning  a  lighted  taper  upon  some  paper  containing  the 
results  of  certain  optical  experiments,  and  being  rebuked  by 
the  philosopher  with  the  words,  "O  Diamond,  Diamond,  little 
do  you  know  the  mischief  you  have  done  me ! "  "  He  never," 
says  Brewster,  "  had  any  communion  with  dogs  or  cats."  Herein 
he  differed  from  the  French  Maupertuis,  who,  being  asked  by  a 
lady  how  he,  loving  cats,  could  use  them  for  purposes  of  vivi- 
section, replied,  "Madame,  one  has  under-cats  for  experiments 
of  that  nature  ;  "  what  Shakespeare  ("  Merchant  of  Venice," 
IV.  1)  would  call  "  a  harmless,  necessary  cat." 

Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  Newton  said,  "  I  do  not  know 
what  I  may  appear  to  the  world ;  but  to  myself  I  seem  to  have 
been  only  like  a  boy  playing  on  the  seashore,  and  diverting  my- 
self in  now  or  then  finding  a  smoother  pebble  or  a  prettier  shell 
than  ordinary,  whilst  the  great  ocean  of  truth  lay  all  undiscov- 
ered before  me."  (v.  "Paradise  Regained,"  IV.  330.) 

MARSHAL  NET. 

[Michael  Ney,  Due  d'Elchingen,  Prince  de  la  Moskova;  born  at 
Saar-Louis,  France,  January,  17G9;  entered  the  army  as  a  private; 
became  a  general  of  brigade,  1796;  served  with  distinction  in  Switzer- 
land and  Germany;  marshal  of  France,  18U4;  commanded  an  army 
in  Spain  1809,  and  the  rear-guard  iu  the  retreat  from  Moscow  1812; 
submitted  to  Louis  XVIII.,  1814,  but  deserted  to  Napoleon;  tried  for 
treason  after  Waterloo,  and  shot,  Dec.  7,  1815.] 

A  marshal  of  France  never  surrenders. 

When  summoned  to  surrender  before  a  line  of  Russian  bat- 
teries, after  leaving  Smolensko,  on  the  retreat  from  Moscow, 
November,  1812.  —  LOCKHART  :  Life  of  Napoleon.  No  one  now 
believes  that  Gen.  Cambronne  uttered  at  Waterloo  the  words 
which  have  been  engraved  upon  his  monument  at  Nantes,  "The 
guard  dies,  but  does  not  surrender  "  (La  garde  meurt  et  ne  se  rend 
pas}.  He  denied  it  himself:  first,  because  he  did  not  die;  and 


424  MARSHAL  KEY. 


secondly,  because  he  did  surrender.  He  simply  asked  for  a  sur- 
geon to  dress  his  wounds,  and  gave  up  his  sword  to  Col.  Halkett 
("Edinburgh  Review,"  XCIII.  160).  He  disavowed  the  mot  at 
a  banquet  in  Nantes,  his  native  place,  in  1835 ;  while  a  grenadier 
asserted,  as  late  as  1862,  before  the  prefect  of  the  Department 
of  the  Xord,  that  he  heard  him  say  it  twice.  The  same  soldier 
also  claimed  to  have  heard  Poniatowski  cry  at  Leipsic,  when 
plunging  into  the  Elster,  from  whose  waters  he  never  rose,  "  God 
has  confided  Poland's  honor  to  me:  I  will  remit  it  only  to  God  !  " 
{Dieu  m'a  confie  Vhonneur  des  Polonais  :  je  ne.  le  remetlrai  qua 
Dieu /)  He  probably  uttered  it  as  truly  as  his  compatriot  Kosci- 
usko  exclaimed,  "  Finis  Polonice!"  (This  is  the  end  of  Poland!) 
at  the  rout  of  Macejowice,  October,  1794,  which  he  denied  in  a 
letter  written  Xov.  12,  1803. 

Cambronne's  mot  was  the  after-thought  of  Rougemont,  a  pro- 
fessional lel-esprit,  who,  on  the  evening  of  Waterloo,  antici- 
pating the  war-correspondents  of  more  modern  times,  invented 
the  phrase  for  an  account  of  the  battle  which  he  wrote  for  the 
next  day's  "Independant."  For  Victor  Hugo's  version  of  Cam- 
bronne's answer,  which  he  calls  the  "  finest  word,  perhaps,  that 
a  Frenchman  ever  uttered,"  vide  "Les  Miserables,"  Cosette, 
XIV. 

Glory  is  not  to  be  divided. 

When  ordered  to  await  Lannes,  in  storming  the  heights 
above  Ulm,  Oct.  15,  1805,  Xey  exclaimed,  "  Glory  is  not  to  be 
divided  ! "  Continuing  his  march,  he  overcame  all  obstacles, 
and  joined  Lannes. — TRIERS:  Consulate  and  Empire,  JBk.  xvi. 

When  asked  if  he  never  felt  fear  in.  battle,  he  replied,  "  I  never 
had  time." 

As  the  balls  whistled  around  him  at  Quatre  Bras,  June  17, 
1815,  he  exclaimed,  "Would  they  were  all  in  my  body !"  (Ces 
boulefs,  je  les  voudrais  tous  avoir  dans  le  venire  .') 

Xey  was  sent  by  Louis  XVIII.  to  meet  and  oppose  Xapoleon 
on  his  return  from  Elba.  "  Sire,  I  will  bring  back  Bonaparte  in 
an  iron  cage,"  was  a  promise  he  only  fulfilled  in  part,  —  the 
cage  was  wanting.  Albert  of  Brandenburg  was  more  modest. 
When  urged  to  capture  the  Emperor  Charles  V.,  who  had  de- 
clined the  battle  offered  him  in  1547  by  the  Protestant  chiefs, 


NICHOLAS  I.  425 


and  who  was  thought  to  be  surrounded  in  the  Tyrol,  he  an- 
swered, "  Capture  him  !  I  have  no  cage  big  enough  for  such  a 
bird !  " 

Having  been  condemned  to  death  on  the  second  return  of  the 
Bourbons,  Marshal  Ney  interrupted  the  officer  who  was  reading 
the  titles  enumerated  in  the  sentence  of  death,  with  the  words: 
"  Say  Michael  Ney,  and  ere  long  but  a  little  dust ! "  To  an 
officer  who  proposed  to  bandage  his  eyes  before  the  execution 
of  the  sentence,  he  replied,  "  Are  you  ignorant  that  for  twenty- 
five  years  I  have  been  accustomed  to  face  both  ball  and  bullet  ?  " 
He  then  took  off  his  hat,  raised  it  above  his  head,  and  said,  with 
a  firm  voice,  "I  declare  before  God  and  man,  that  I  have  never 
betrayed  my  country.  May  my  death  render  her  happy  !  Vive 
la  France  ! "  Turning  to  the  men,  and  striking  his  other  hand 
on  his  heart,  he  gave  the  word,  "  Soldiers,  fire !  "  or,  as  is  often 
given,  "  Aim  at  my  heart ! " 

Murat's  personal  vanity  prompted  his  last  words,  "  Save  my 
face,  aim  at  my  heart !  " 

NICHOLAS  I. 

[Emperor  of  Russia  ;  born  July,  1796  ;  succeeded  Alexander  I., 
1825,  by  the  voluntary  renunciation  of  his  elder  brother,  Constan- 
tine,  ami  suppressed  a  military  revolt;  took  the  province  of  Erivan 
from  Persia,  1827;  declared  war  against  Turkey,  1828,  by  which  he 
gained  territory  on  the  Black  Sea;  suppressed  the  Polish  insurrec- 
tion, 1830;  intervened  against  the  Hungarians,  1840;  demanded  the 
protectorate  of  subjects  of  the  Porte  professing  the  Greek  faith,  and 
on  refusal  declared  war  against  Turkey  and  her  allies,  October,  1853; 
died  March  2,  1855.] 

One  law,  one  tongue,  one  faith. 

The  maxim  upon  which  was  built  his  theory  of  government, 
a  theory  which  to-day  is  called  Pan-Slavism  (Une  seule  loi,  une 
seule  langue,  une  seule  croyance).  Daniel  Webster  gave  as  a  toast, 
at  a  banquet  in  New  York,  1837,  "  One  country,  one  constitution, 
one  destiny." 

Nicholas  suppressed  the  insurrection  which  followed  his  proc- 
lamation as  emperor,  with  merciless  rigor.  The  exhibition  of 
power  was  necessary  to  its  preservation.  "  If  I  am  an  emperor 
only  for  an  hour,"  he  said,  "  I  will  show  that  I  am  worthy  of  it." 


426  LORD  NORBTJRY. 


The  sick  man  of  Europe. 

When  in  England  in  1844,  the  emperor  conversed  with  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  and  Lord  Aberdeen  respecting  the  prospec- 
tive dissolution  of  the  Turkish  empire.  On  his  return  home  he 
embodied  his  views  in  a  memorandum  drawn  up  by  Count  Xes- 
selrode,  which  was  transmitted  to  London,  but  kept  secret  until 
March,  1853.  In  January  and  February  of  that  year  he  had 
conversations  on  the  subject  with  the  English  ambassador  at 
St.  Petersburg,  Sir  George  Hamilton  Seymour,  in  which  he  used 
words  like  the  following  :  "  AVe  have  on  our  hands  a  sick  man, 
—  a  very  sick  man.  It  will  be  a  great  misfortune  if,  one  of 
these  days,  he  should  slip  away  from  us  before  the  necessary 
arrangements  have  been  made."  —  Blue  Book,  1854.  He  accord- 
ingly made  proposals  to  both  England  and  France  concerning 
a  division  of  the  sick  man's  estate,  which  were,  however,  de- 
clined ;  Lord  John  Russell  replying  that  the  dissolution  of  the 
patient  might  be  postponed  a  hundred  years. 

Montesquieu,  in  the  "Persian  Letters,"  I.  19,  saw  with  aston- 
ishment the  weakness  of  the  Ottoman  power,  "whose  sick  body 
was  not  supported  by  a  mild  and  regular  diet,  but  by  a  powerful 
treatment,  which  continually  exhausted  it." 

In  the  correspondence  between  Catherine  II.  and  Voltaire,  the 
latter  said,  "  Your  Majesty  may  think  me  an  impatient  sick  man, 
and  that  the  Turks  are  even  sicker."  —  Rundschau,  April,  1878. 

Sir  Thomas  Roe,  ambassador  of  James  II.  to  Constantinople, 
reported,  in  a  letter  quoted  by  Buchmann,  375,  the  Ottoman  em- 
pire to  have  "  the  body  of  a  sick  old  man,  who  tried  to  appear 
healthy,  although  his  end  was  near." 

LOUD  NORBURY. 

[John  Toler,  an  Irish  judge,  celebrated  for  his  power  of  repartee; 
born  in  Tipperary,  1745  ;  solicitor-general,  1789  ;  attorney-general, 
1798  ;  chief  justice  of  the  common  pleas,  1800 ;  raised  to  the  Irish 
peerage;  died  1831.] 

Only  a  shilling  to  bury  an  attorney  ?   Here's  a  guinea : 
go  and  bury  one  and  twenty  of  them. 

When  asked  to  contribute  a  shilling  to  bury  a  poor  attorney. 
During  the  trial  of  the  Irish  rebels,  among  whom  was  Em- 


LORD  NORTH.  427 


met,  Norbury  gained  the  soubriquet  of  the  "hanging  judge,"  from 
the  celerity  with  which  he  tried  and  condemned  prisoners  to  be 
hanged.  When  told  that  he  was  going  on  swimmingly,  he  re- 
plied, "Yes,  seven  knots  an  hour."  Curran  made  this  repu- 
tation of  Norbury  for  judicial  severity  the  occasion  of  a  famous 
pun.  One  day  at  dinner  the  judge  said  to  Curran,  that  if  that 
was  hung  beef  before  him,  he  would  try  it ;  to  which  the  witty 
advocate  rejoined,  "  If  you  try  it,  my  lord,  it  is  sure  to  be  hung." 

When  Daniel  O'Connell  said,  during  the  trial  of  a  case,  that 
he  feared  the  chief  justice  did  not  apprehend  him,  Norbury 
replied  by  alluding  to  the  report  that  the  Agitator  had  surren- 
dered himself  to  avoid  fighting  a  duel :  "  No  one  is  more  easily 
apprehended  than  Mr.  O'Connell  —  whenever  he  wishes  to  be 
apprehended." 

Sir  Jonah  Barrington  says  of  the  judge,  in  his  "Recollec- 
tions," "  Lord  Norbury  had  a  hand  for  everybody,  and  a  heart 
for  nobody." 

LORD  NORTH. 

[Frederick  North,  second  Earl  of  Guildford,  an  English  statesman; 
born  1733;  lord  of  the  treasury,  1763;  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
and  leader  of  the  House  of  Commons,  1709;  prime  minister,  1770, 
and  during  the  war  of  American  independence;  secretary  of  state  in 
the  Coalition  from  March  to  December,  1783;  died  1792.] 

Sir,  his  Majesty  has  thought  proper  to  order  a  new 
commission  of  the  treasury  to  be  made  out,  in  which 
I  do  not  see  your  name. 

In  a  note  dismissing  Fox  from  the  commission  of  the  treasury, 
1773. 

When  taunted  by  an  opposition  member  with  his  habit  of 
sleeping  in  the  House,  "  Even  now,  in  the  midst  of  these  perils, 
the  noble  lord  is  asleep,"  —  "I  wish  to  God  I  were,"  interrupted 
the  secretary.  Burke  once  observed  him  asleep,  and  remarked, 
"  The  government,  if  not  defunct,  nods  :  brother  Lazarus  is  not 
dead,  only  sleepeth."  Col.  Barre  wras  once  making  a  tedious 
speech  in  the  House  on  the  navy,  and  had  only  reached  the 
battle  of  La  Hogue,  fought  between  the  combined  English  and 
Dutch  fleets  against  the  French  in  1692,  when  some  one  waked 


428  JAMES  NORTHCOTE. 

North,  who  exclaimed,  "O  my  dear  friend,  you  have  waked  me 
a  century  too  soon  !  ' 

North  called  the  barking  of  a  dog  while  he  was  speaking, 
"the  interruption  of  a  new  member."  The  dog  was  put  out,  but 
returned,  and  began  barking  again ;  at  which  North  only  observed, 
"Spoke  once."  —  JENNINGS  :  Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament. 

A  member  named  Martin  proposed  to  have  a  starling  placed 
near  the  speaker's  chair,  and  taught  to  say,  "Infamous  Coalition. '' 
Lord  North,  the  leader  of  the  Coalition,  submitted  that  "this 
House  is  in  possession  of  a  Martin,  who  will  serve  the  purpose  as 
well." —  RUSSELL  :  Life  of  Fox. 

During  the  American  war  Lord  North,  having  at  a  City  din- 
ner announced  the  receipt  of  news  of  a  victory  over  the  "rebels," 
and  being  taken  to  task  by  Fox  and  Barre  for  applying  such 
language  to  "fellow-subjects  in  America,"  replied,  "Well,  then, 
to  please  you,  I  will  call  them  the  gentlemen  in  opposition  on 
the  other  side  of  the  water." 

When  the  Dutch  say  "  We  maritime  powers,"  it  reminds  one, 
said  Lord  North,  "of  the  cobbler  who  lived  next  door  to  the 
lord  mayor,  and  used  to  say  'My  neighbor  and  I.' ; 

JAMES  NORTHCOTE. 

[An  English  portrait  and  historical  painter  ;  born  at  Plymouth, 
1746 ;  member  of  the  Royal  Academy  ;  published  a  "  Life  of  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,"  and  treatises  on  art ;  died  1831.] 

Learned  men  are  the  cisterns  of  knowledge,  not  the 
fountain-heads. 

It  is  not  that  women  are  not  often  very  clever  (clev- 
erer than  many  men),  but  there  is  a  point  of  excel- 
lence which  they  never  reach. 

Admiration  is  a  forced  tribute,  and  to  extort  it  from 
mankind  (envious  and  ignorant  as  they  are),  they 
must  be  taken  unawares. 

The  world  can  only  keep  in  view  the  principal  and 
perfect  productions  of  human  ingenuity. 

"Table-Talk."  Of  West's  picture  of  the  Death  of  Gen. 
Wolfe,  Northcote  said,  "West  thought  it  was  he  who  had  im- 
mortalized Wolfe,  and  not  Wolfe  who  had  immortalized  him." 


DANIEL   O'CONNELL.  429 

When  a  pedantic  coxcomb  was  crying  up  Raphael  to  the 
skies,  Northcote  could  not  help  saying,  "  If  there  is  nothing  in 
Raphael  but  what  you  could  see,  we  should  not  now  have  been 
talking  of  him."  —  Autobiography. 

DANIEL  O'CONNELL. 

[The  Irish  orator  and  agitator  ;  born  in  Kerry,  August,  1775; 
elected  to  Parliament,  1828,  and  refused  to  take  the  oath  ;  after 
the  passage  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Bill,  represented  Dub- 
lin in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  agitated  the  repeal  of  the  Union  ; 
tried  and  sentenced  for  sedition,  but  judgment  reversed  ;  died  at 
Genoa,  May,  1847.] 

I  can  drive  a  coach  and  six  through  any  act  of  Par- 
liament. 

Alluding  to  the  loose  construction  of  Parliamentary  enact- 
ments. 

Of  his  liberalism  in  religion,  he  declared,  "  I  am  a  Catholic, 
but  not  a  Papist." 

Once  when  O'Connell  was  rudely  interrupted  during  the  de- 
bate on  the  Irish  Registration  Bill,  he  used  the  expression 
"  beastly  bellowings."  "  Then  arose,"  says  Macaulay  in  his  jour- 
nal, June  11,  1840,  "such  an  uproar  as  no  O.  P.  mob  at  Covent 
Garden,  no  crowd  of  Chartists  in  front  of  the  hustings,  ever 
equalled.  A  short  and  most  amusing  scene  passed  between 
O'Connell  and  Lord  Maidstone,  who  was  so  ill-mannered  that 
I  hope  he  was  drunk.  'If,'  said  Lord  Maidstone,  'the  word 
"beastly  "  is  retracted,  I  shall  be  satisfied.  If  not,  I  shall  not  be 
satisfied.'  —  'I  do  not  care  whether  the  noble  lord  be  satisfied 
or  not.'  — 'I  wish  you  would  give  me  satisfaction.'  — 'I  advise 
the  noble  lord  to  carry  his  liquor  meekly.'  -  JEXXINGS  :  256. 

Tom  Moore  said  of  one  of  O'Connell's  characteristics,  "The 
faculty  of  thinking  on  his  legs  is  a  tremendous  engine  in  the 
hands  of  any  man." 

OMAR  I. 

[The  second  caliph  or  successor  of  Mohammed ;  converted  to  Islam- 
ism,  A.  D.  (315;  succeeded  Aboo-Bekr,  634;  took  Damascus,  635;  Jeru- 
salem, 638;  conquered  Syria  and  Persia,  638;  subdued  Egypt  by  his 
general  Auiru,  640-641;  assassinated  at  Medina,  644.] 


430  DUG  D' ORLEANS. 


As  to  the  books  you  have  mentioned,  if  they  con- 
tain what  is  agreeable  with  the  book  of  God,  in  the 
book  of  God  is  sufficient  without  them  ;  and  if  they 
contain  what  is  contrary  to  the  book  of  God,  there 
is  no  need  of  them. 

To  his  lieutenant  Amru,  who,  after  the  capture  of  Alexan- 
dria, asked  what  should  be  done  with  the  library.  The  libra- 
rian, a  Christian,  had  asked  for  the  books,  of  which  no  account 
had  been  made  in  the  inventory  of  capture.  On  Omar's  answer 
the  books  fed  the  five  thousand  baths  of  Alexandria  for  six 
months.  This  is  doubted  by  Gibbon  ;  and  denied  by  Fournier 
for  two  reasons,  —  first,  because  the  caliph  was  never  in  Alexan- 
dria ;  and  secondly,  because  the  library  had  ceased  to  exist  two 
and  a  half  centuries  before. 

DUC  D'ORLEANS. 

[Regent  of  France  during  the  minority  of  Louis  XV. ;  born  at  St. 
Cloud,  1674;  served  in  the  army  of  Italy  and  Spain;  regent  from  1715- 
1723,  a  period  of  general  profligacy,  of  which  he  gave  the  example; 
died  December,  1723.] 

Tell  your  master  that  Prance  has  always  been  the 
asylum  of  unhappy  princes. 

To  an  ambassador  who  remonstrated  with  him,  when  regent, 
for  harboring  the  exiled  king  of  Poland,  father  of  the  future 
wife  of  Louis  XV. 

When  the  prime  minister  Dubois,  the  infamous  preceptor  of 
the  regent,  was  dying,  the  latter  wrote  to  one  of  his  companions, 
whom  the  cardinal  had  banished,  inviting  him  to  return  ;  using 
the  simple  formula,  "Dead  dogs  do  not  bite." 

On  the  marriage  of  two  poor  persons,  he  said,  "  Hunger  has 
wed  Thirst"  (La  f aim  a  epouse  le  soif). 

He  insisted,  when  regent,  on  the  power  of  pardon  being  in- 
trusted to  him,  saying,  "I  have  no  objection  to  having  my 
hands  tied  from  doing  harm,  but  I  will  have  them  free  to  do 
good."  The  last  words  of  Charles  V.  of  France,  called  "the 
Wise"  (1337-1380),  were,  "I  find  that  kings  are  happy  but  in 
this,  that  they  have  the  power  of  doing  good." 


DUG  D'ORLEANS  (KGALITE).  431 

DUC  & 'ORLEANS  (EgaWe). 

[Louis  Philippe  Joseph,  Due  d'Orlcans,  surnamed  ]£galite;  cousin 
of  Louis  XVI.,  and  first  prince  of  the  blood;  born  at  St.  Cloud,  1747; 
served  in  the  navy;  elected  to  the  States-General,  1789,  and  joined 
the  Tiers  Etat ,  being  repulsed  by  the  court,  united  himself  with 
Danton,  and  voted  for  the  king's  death;  imprisoned  at  Marseilles, 
1793,  and  executed  at  Paris  in  November  of  that  year.] 

They  used  to  applaud  me. 

Notwithstanding  the  professions  of  democracy  which  the 
duke  made,  —  perhaps  in  revenge  for  cold  treatment  by  the 
court  party, — his  popularity  waned,  until,  for  no  particular 
cause,  he  was  arrested  and  carried  to  execution,  the  people 
hissing  and  cursing  him  on  the  way  to  the  guillotine. 

As  the  executioner  was  about  to  draw  off  the  duke's  boots, 
the  latter  coolly  remarked,  "They  will  come  off  better  after:  let 
us  have  done  "  (de'pechons-nous) .  —  CARLYLE  :  French  Revolution, 
II.  7,  2. 

OXENSTIERN. 

[Axel,  Count  Oxenstiern,  chancellor  of  Sweden;  born  in  Upland, 
June,  1583;  educated  at  Jena  and  Wittenberg;  prime  minister,  1011; 
continued  Sweden's  connection  with  the  Thirty  Years'  War  after  the 
death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  governed  the  kingdom  during  the 
minority  of  Queen  Christina;  died  August,  1054.] 

Dost  thou  not  know,  my  son,  with  how  little  wisdom 
the  world  is  governed  ? 

When  his  son  hesitated  at  accepting  the  representation  of 
Sweden  at  the  Peace  Congress  of  Westphalia,  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  in  1648,  alleging  his  ignorance  and  in- 
experience, the  chancellor  said  to  him,  "An  nescis,  mi  Jilt,  quant  Hid 
prudentid  mundus  regatur  ? "  These  words  were  attributed  to 
Pope  Julius  III.  (1550-1555),  when  a  Portuguese  monk  pitied 
him,  to  have  the  weight  of  the  world  upon  his  shoulders  :  "  You 
would  be  surprised  if  you  knew  with  how  little  expense  of  under- 
standing the  world  is  ruled."  It  was  a  maxim  of  Turgot,  "Do 
not  govern  the  world  too  much."  Selden,  Oxenstiern 's  contem- 
porary, expressed  the  same  thought,  "Thou  little  thinkest  what 
a  little  foolery  governs  the  world." 


432  LORD   PALMERSTON. 


LOUD  PALMERSTON. 

[Henry  John  Temple,  an  English  statesman;  born  in  Hampshire, 
Oct.  20,  1784;  educated  at  Cambridge;  became  Viscount  Palmerston 
in  the  Irish  peerage,  1802;  entered  Parliament,  1807;  secretary  at 
war  from  1812;  for  foreign  affairs,  1830-34,  1835-41,  1S4C-51;  for  the 
home  department,  1852;  prime  minister,  1855-58, 1859-65,  in  which  year, 
Oct.  18,  he  died;  represented  Tiverton  from  1835  until  his  death.] 

You  may  call  it  the  accidental  and  fortuitous  concourse 
of  atoms. 

Of  the  combination  of  parties  led  by  Mr.  Disraeli  and  Mr. 
Gladstone,  which  defeated  the  Government  on  the  Chinese  war, 
March  5,  1857. 

When  congratulated  on  persuading  the  Sultan  to  liberate 
Kossuth  in  1851,  he  said,  "  A  good  deal  of  judicious  bottle- 
holding  was  obliged  to  be  brought  into  play." 

When  asked  if  he  would  favor  a  return  to  protection,  he  re- 
plied, "  The  Exe  cannot  be  made  to  flow  back  to  its  source." 

Lord  Palmerston's  good  humor  was  a  strong  element  of  his 
character,  and  contributed  materially  to  his  success.  It  did  not 
desert  him  during  his  last  illness  when  his  physician  mentioned 
death :  "  Die,  my  dear  doctor !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  that's  the  last 
thing  I  shall  do." 

During  the  attacks  of  the  opposition,  against  which  Lord 
Palmerston,  then  secretary  for  war,  kept  silence,  Canning  ex- 
claimed, "  What  would  I  give  to  get  that  three-decker,  Palmers- 
ton,  to  bear  down  upon  them  !  " 

I>R.  PARR. 

[Samuel  Parr,  an  English  scholar  and  critic;  born  at  Harrow-on- 
the-Hill,  1749;  left  Cambridge  without  a  degree;  master  of  different 
schools;  prebendary  of  St.  Paul's;  died  1825.] 

No  man  can  be  a  good  critic  who  is  not  well  versed  in 
human  nature. 

All  human  knowledge  here  is  but  methodized  igno- 
rance. 

Goethe  says,  "The  highest  art  lies  in  the  knowledge  of  limita- 
tion, and  in  the  power  of  self -isolation."  It  was  a  saying  of 


^EMILIUS  PAULUS.  433 

Socrates,  when  told  by  the  Delphic  oracle  that  he  was  the  wisest 
man  in  all  Greece,  "  'Tis  because  that  I  alone  of  all  the  Greeks 
know  that  I  know  nothing."  Horace  Walpole  wrote:  "In  all 
sciences  the  errors  precede  the  truths,  and  it  is  better  they 
should,  first  than  last." 

Of  the  contest  over  the  personality  of  Homer,  Dr.  Parr  re- 
marked with  the  enthusiasm  of  the  literary  partisan,  "  I  for  one 
would  stick  to  Homer,  even  if  he  never  existed." 

Dr.  Parr  prided  himself  on  his  Latin  epitaphs,  and  said  he 
meant  to  write  Erskine's ;  as  he  was  an  older  man  than  the  lord 
chancellor,  the  latter  replied  with  a  manner  intended  to  be  very 
complimentary,  "It  is  a  temptation  to  commit  suicide." 

LUCIUS  ^MILIUS  PAULUS. 

[A  distinguished  member  of  the  Roman  aristocracy;  born  about 
350  B.C. ;  defeated  the  Lusitaui  in  Spain,  191;  took  prisoner  Perseus, 
the  last  king  of  Macedonia;  twice  consul;  died  160.] 

None  of  you  know  where  the  shoe  pinches. 

He  divorced  his  wife  Papiria,  the  mother  of  many  fine  chil- 
dren, among  them  Scipio  and  Fabius  Maximus ;  and  when  his 
friends  remonstrated,  and  asked  him,  "  Was  she  not  chaste? 
was  she  not  fair '?  "  he  held  out  his  shoe,  and  said,  "  Is  it  not 
handsome  ?  is  it  not  new  ?  And  yet  none  of  you  know  where  it 
pinches,  but  he  that  wears  it."  —  PLUTARCH:  Life. 

I  require  the  same  genius  to  draw  up  an  army  and  order 
an  entertainment. 

SIR  ROBERT  PEEL. 

[A  distinguished  English  statesman;  born  in  Lancashire,  Feb.  5, 
1788;  educated  at  Oxford;  entered  Parliament,  1809;  secretary  for 
Ireland,  1812;  for  the  home  department,  1822;  first  lord  of  the  treas- 
ury, 1834-35,  1841-46;  supported  the  repeal  of  the  Corn-Laws;  died  by 
a  fall  from  his  horse,  June  29,  1850.] 

I  will  not  stand  at  the  helm  during  the  tempestuous 
night,  if  that  helm  is  not  allowed  freely  to  traverse. 

During  the  agitation  for  the  repeal  of  the  Corn-Laws. 

Of  the  different  departments  of  government  he  said  in  1846, 


434  WILLIAM  PENN. 


"  It  is  no  easy  task  to  insure  the  harmonious  and  united  action 
of  an  ancient  monarchy,  a  proud  aristocracy,  and  a  reformed 
House  of  Commons." 

When  Shiel  had  learned  by  heart,  but  forgotten,  the  exordium 
of  a  speech  beginning  with  the  word  "  Necessity,"  which  he  re- 
peated three  times,  Peel  added,  "is  not  always  the  mother  of 
invention."  —  JENNINGS  :  Anecdotal  History  ofParl.,  248. 

Feargus  O'Connor  denied  the  charge  of  being  a  republican, 
and  said  he  did  not  care  whether  the  Queen  or  the  Devil  was  on 
the  throne.  Peel  observed,  "  When  the  honorable  gentleman 
sees  the  sovereign  of  his  choice  on  the  throne  of  these  realms,  I 
hope  he'll  enjoy,  and  I'm  sure  he'll  deserve,  the  confidence  of  the 


crown." 


WILLIAM  PENN. 

* 

[The  founder  of  Pennsylvania;  born  in  London,  Oct.  14, 1644;  edu- 
cated at  Oxford;  joined  the  Quakers;  obtained  a  grant  of  land  in 
America  in  payment  of  a  claim  against  government;  sailed  1(582,  and 
made  a  treaty  with  the  Indians  on  the  site  of  Philadelphia;  returned 
1684,  and  obtained  relief  for  Quakers  from  James  II.;  tried  for  trea- 
son, but  acquitted;  visited  America,  1699;  died  1718.] 

The  Tower  is  to  me  the  worst  argument  in  the  world. 

When  threatened  with  imprisonment  for  joining  the  Quakers. 
Of  their  preachers  he  said,  "  Poor  mechanics  are  wont  to  be 
God's  great  ambassadors  to  mankind." 

When  asked  why  he,  an  "  ingenious  "  gentleman,  joined  the 
"  simple  "  Quakers,  he  replied,  "  I  prefer  the  honestly  simple  to 
the  ingeniously  wicked." 

The  maxim  on  which  he  preached  religious  toleration  in 
Pennsylvania  was,  "  Whoever  is  right,  the  persecutor  must  be 
wrong." 

PERICLES. 

[An  Athenian  author  and  statesman;  entered  public  life,  470  B.C., 
as  a  leader  of  the  democratic  party ;  directed  the  government  after 
446;  commanded  in  the  Samian  war,  440;  patronized  the  arts,  and 
discouraged  foreign  conquest;  involved  in  the  Peloponnesian  war, 
during  which  he  was  deprived  of  his  command;  died  429  B.C.] 


COUNT  PESTEL.  435 


The  whole  earth  is  the  monument  of  great  characters. 

In  the  oration  pronounced  over  the  Athenians  killed  in  the 
first  year  of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  431-30  B.C.  He  was  accus- 
tomed to  say,  when  putting  on  his  war-cloak,  "  Remember, 
Pericles,  that  you  govern  freemen,  Grecians,  Athenians."  — 
PLUTARCH  :  Apothegms. 

To  a  friend  who  wished  him  to  bear  false  witness  in  a  lawsuit, 
and  to  bind  himself  with  an  oath,  he  replied,  "  I  am  a  friend 
only  as  far  as  the  altar."  —  Ibid. 

He  consoled  himself  on  his  death-bed  with  the  thought,  "No 
Athenian  ever  went  into  mourning  on  my  account."  —  Ibid. 
So  when  Chares,  the  orator,  observed,  to  the  merriment  of  the 
Athenians,  what  terrible  brows  Phocion  had,  the  latter  rejoined, 
"  This  brow  of  mine  never  gave  one  of  you  an  hour  of  sorrow, 
but  the  laughter  of  those  sneerers  has  cost  the  country  many  a 
tear."  —  Life. 

• 

COUNT  FESTEL. 

[Paul,  Count  Pestel;  "born  in  Russia,  1794;  author  of  "  Pestel's 
Hymn;  "  became  the  leader  of  a  secret  society  formed  to  introduce 
by  force  liberal  institutions;  executed  1826.] 

Stupid  country,  where  they  do  not  even  know  how  to 
hang! 

When  the  rope  broke  by  which  he  was  to  be  hanged. 

PETER  THE  GREAT. 

[Peter  I.,  Czar  of  Russia;  born  at  Moscow,  June  10,  1672;  ascended 
the  throne,  1682;  visited  "Western  Europe,  and  worked  as  a  ship- 
carpenter  in  Holland,  1697;  introduced  reforms  into  Russia  on  his 
return;  defeated  Charles  XII.,  1700;  founded  St.  Petersburg,  1703; 
engaged  in  war  with  Turkey;  visited  European  countries,  1710;  died 
1725.] 

I  built  St.  Petersburg  as  a  window  to  let  in  the  light 
of  Europe. 

Charles  XIT.  of  Sweden  said  of  Peter's  new  capital,  "Let  him 
build  his  wooden  houses :  we  will  soon  come  and  burn  them." 
Peter  exclaimed  before  Richelieu's  monument,  during  his  visit 


436  PHILIP  OF  MACEDON. 

to  Paris  in  1717,  "  Ah,  great  man !  if  thou  wert  still  alive,  I 
would  give  thee  one  half  of  my  kingdom  to  teach  me  to  govern 
the  other  !  ':  A  Frenchman  standing  by  remarked,  that  if  Riche- 
lieu had  the  one  half,  he  would  take  and  keep  the  other. 

While  in  London,  he  attended  a  meeting  of  Quakers,  and 
observed  at  the  close  of  the  service,  "  How  happy  must  be  a 
community  instituted  on  their  principles  ! ' 

During  his  visit  to  Westminster  Hall,  he  asked  who  the  busy 
people  in  black  gowns  and  wigs  were ;  and,  being  told  they  were 
lawyers,  exclaimed,  "Lawyers!  I  have  but  two  in  my  dominions, 
and  I  believe  that  I  shall  hang  one  of  them  the  moment  I  get 
home !  " 

Having  violently  assailed,  in  a  fit  of  passion,  Le  Fort,  his  friend 
and  the  author  of  many  administrative  reforms,  Peter  bitterly 
exclaimed,  "It  is  my  great  desire  to  reform  my  subjects,  and 
yet  I  am  ashamed  to  confess  that  I  am  unable  to  reform  myself." 

When  asked  why  he  built  ships  when  he  had  no  ports,  he 
replied,  "  My  ships  shall  make  ports  for  themselves.'"' 

Seeing  in  Paris  a  courtier  dressed  every  day  in  a  different  suit 
of  clothes,  he  remarked,  "  That  gentleman  seems  to  be  much 
dissatisfied  with  his  tailor." 

His  opinion  of  his  great  enemy,  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  may 
be  inferred  from  his  saying,  "One  word  from  my  brother  Charles 
is  worth  a  hundred  treaties." 


PHILIP   OF  MACEDON. 

[Philip  II.,  king  of  Macedonia;  born  382  B.C.;  succeeded  his 
"brother,  359;  gained  victories  over  Athens  in  the  Social  and  subse- 
quent wars,  until  the  battle  of  Chseronea,  338,  made  him  master  of 
Greece;  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  Greek  armies  against 
Persia,  but  was  assassinated  while  making  preparations,  336.] 

O  Fortune,  for  all  these  so  great  kindnesses,  do  me 
some  small  mischief! 

When  news  was  brought  to  him  of  divers  and  eminent  suc- 
cesses in  one  day.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Apothegms. 

When  advised  to  put  garrisons  in  Greek  cities  which  he  con- 
quered, he  replied,  "I  had  rather  be  called  merciful  a  great 
while,  than  lord  a  little  while."  —  Ibid. 


PHILIP  OF  MACEDON.  437 

Being  told  that  a  certain  city  was  impregnable  :  "  Is  there  not 
a  pathway  to  it,"  he  asked,  "wide  enough  for  an  ass  laden  with 
"  —  Ibid. 


Men  that  call  a  spade  a  spade. 

When  Lasthenes  the  Olynthian,  and  his  friends,  complained 
to  Philip  that  some  of  his  retinue  called  them  traitors  :  "  These 
Macedonians,"  replied  the  king,  "  are  a  rude  and  clownish  peo- 
ple, that  call  a  spade  a  spade."  —  Ibid.  Philip  Melanchthon  in  a 
letter  to  Cranmer,  May  1,  1548,  said,  "In  ecclesia  rectius  scapham, 
scapkam  dicere." 

Having  made  a  man  a  judge,  on  Antipater's  recommendation, 
and  perceiving  afterwards  that  his  hair  and  beard  were  dyed,  he 
removed  him,  saying,  "  I  could  not  think  one  that  was  faithless 
in  his  hair  could  be  trusty  in  his  deeds."  —  Ibid. 

Aster,  an  expert  marksman,  offered  his  services  to  Philip 
during  the  siege  of  Methone,  asserting  that  he  could  shoot  birds 
in  their.  flight.  The  king  declined  the  offer,  saying,  "I  will  take 
you  into  my  service  when  I  make  war  upon  starlings  ;  ''  where- 
upon Aster  shot  an  arrow  from  the  city,  inscribed,  "  To  Philip's 
right  eye,"  and  put  it  out.  The  king  sent  back  the  arrow  with 
the  message  that  if  he  took  the  city  he  would  hang  Aster,  which 
he  did.  Philip  could  never  thereafter  bear  to  hear  the  Cyclops, 
or  one-eyed  men,  mentioned. 

Philip,  remember  that  thou  art  mortal. 

The  words  he  had  a  servant  repeat  in  the  audience-room. 
Augustus  once  received  a  more  pointed  hint  ;  for,  when  con- 
demning men  in  a  passion,  Maecenas  threw  his  tablets  to  Him, 
on  which  he  had  written,  "  Rise,  butcher  !  "  (Surge,  carnifex  .') 

He  complimented  his  prime  minister  by  saying,  when  re- 
proached with  devoting  so  many  hours  to  sleep,  "  I  sleep,  but 
Antipater  wakes."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Apothegms. 

When  suffering  from  a  wound  in  the  throat,  his  surgeon  daily 
importuned  him  with  some  new  request.  "  Take  what  thou 
wilt,"  Philip  at  last  exclaimed,  "for  thou  hast  me  by  the 
throat." 

He  refused  to  banish  a  defamer,  preferring  "that  he  speak 
where  we  are  both  known,  than  both  unknown." 


438  PHILIP  II. 


I  advise  you  to  take  a  journey  to  Anticyra. 

To  Menecrates,  who  had  written  an  arrogant  letter  to  Philip. 
As  hellebore  was  found  there,  it  was  an  insinuation  that  he  was 
mad,  for  which  that  herb  was  a  specific.  Lord  Beaconsfield 
said,  on  his  return  from  the  Berlin  Congress  in  1878,  in  replying 
to  a  criticism  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  that  the  convention  of  Constan- 
tinople was  an  "insane  convention:"  "I  will  not  say  to  the  right 
honorable  gentleman,  what  I  had  occasion  to  say  in  the  House 
of  Lords  this  year,  Naviyet  Antic yram ;  but  I  would  put  this 
issue  to  an  intelligent  English  jury :  Which  do  you  believe  most 
likely  to  enter  into  an  insane  convention,  a  body  of  English  gen- 
tlemen, honored  by  the  favor  of  their  sovereign  and  the  confi- 
dence of  their  fellow-subjects,  managing  their  own  affairs  for 
five  years,  I  hope  with  prudence  and  not  altogether  without  suc- 
cess, or  a  sophistical  rhetorician,  inebriated  with  the  exuberance 
of  his  own  verbosity,  and  gifted  with  an  egotistical  imagination 
that  can  at  all  times  command  an  interminable  and  inconsistent 
series  of  arguments  to  malign  his  opponents  and  to  glorify 
himself  ?  " 

PHILIF  II. 

[King  of  Spain;  son  of  Charles  V.;  born  at  Valladolid,  May  21, 
1527;  married  Mary  Tudor  of  England,  1554;  received  the  Nether- 
lands from  his  father,  1555,  and  Spain  and  the  Indies  in  the  same 
year ;  endeaATored,  for  several  years  from  1566,  to  subdue  the  religious 
and  political  insurrection  of  the  Netherlands;  sent  against  England 
the  "Invincible  Armada,"  1588;  died  Sept.  13,  1598.] 

The  sun  never  sets  upon  my  empire. 

Used  by  Schiller:  — 

"  Die  Sonne  geht  in  meinem  Staat  nicht  unter." 

Don  Carlos,  I.  6. 

Napoleon  said  during  the  Spanish  campaign,  "  The  sun  never 
sets  on  the  immense  empire  of  Charles  V."  The  expression  is, 
however,  first  found  in  the  "  Pastor  Fido  "  of  Guarini,  brought 
out  in  Turin  in  1585,  on  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy  with 
Catherine  of  Austria,  who  is  addressed  as  the  proud  daughter  of 
the  monarch  upon  whose  dominions  the  sun  never  sets :  — 


WENDELL  PHILLIPS.  439 


"  Altera  figlia 


Di  quel  Monarca,  a  cui 

Ne  anco,  quando  annotta,  il  Sol  tramonta." 

Buchmann  quotes  the  remark  of  Balthasar  Schupp,  "  Abgeno- 
tigte  Ehrenrettung,"  1660:  "The  king  of  Spain  is  a  great  poten- 
tate, who  stands  with  one  foot  in  the  east  and  the  other  in  the 
west ;  and  the  sun  never  sets  that  it  does  not  shine  on  some  of 
his  dominions."  Tibullus  says  of  Home, — 

"  Et  qua  fluitantibus  undis 

Soils  anhelantes  abluit  ainnis  equos." 

Elegies. 

Camoens  also  repeats  it  of  Portugal  in  the  "  Lusiad." 
It  gave  to  Daniel  Webster  one  of  his  finest  figures,  in  a  speech 
in  the  Senate,  on  the  President's  Protest,  May  7,  1834 :  that  the 
American  Colonies  raised  their  flag  against  a  power  "  which  has 
dotted  over  the  surface  of  the  whole  globe  with  her  possessions 
and  military  posts,  whose  morning  drum-beat,  following  the  sun 
and  keeping  company  with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  with  one 
continuous  and  unbroken  strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  England." 

I  sent  my  ships  against  men,  not  against  the  seas. 

His  only  remark  when  told  of  the  loss  of  the  "  Invincible 
Armada." 

When  Carlos  de  Sessa,  on  his  way  to  the  stake  at  Yalladolid, 
asked  the  king  how  he  could  permit  him  to  be  burned,  Philip 
replied,  "I  would  carry  the  wood  to  burn  my  own  son  with,  were 
he  as  wicked  as  vou." 

V 

WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

An  American  orator  and  reformer:  born  in  Bos-ton,  Nov.  29,  1811; 
educated  at  Harvard  College;  abandoned  the  profession  of  the  law, 
being  unwilling  to  act  under  an  oath  to  support  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States ;  president  for  many  years  of  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  Society;  after  the  Civil  War,  devoted  himself  to  other  social 
reforms.] 

Every  step  of  progress  the  world  has  made  has  been 
from  scaffold  to  scaffold,  and  from  stake  to  stake. 

Speech  for  woman's  rights,  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  Oct.  15,  1851*. 


440  WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

What  the  Puritans  gave  the  world  was  not  thought, 
but  action. 

Speech  at  the  dinner  of  the  Pilgrim  Society  at  Plymouth, 
Mass.,  Dec.  21,  1855.  He  also  said  on  the  same  occasion, 
"  Neither  do  I  acknowledge  the  right  of  Plymouth  to  the  whole 
rock.  No,  the  rock  underlies  all  America:  it  only  crops  out 
here."  And  again  :  "  There  is  a  class  among  us  so  conservative 
that  they  are  afraid  the  roof  will  come  down  if  you  sweep  off 
the  cobwebs."  Also:  "There  is  a  pedigree  of  the  body,  and  a 
pedigree  of  the  mind."  He  said  in  New  York,  Jan.  21,  1803, 
"  Give  it  only  the  fulcrum  of  Plymouth  Rock,  an  idea  will  up- 
heave the  continent." 

Revolutions  are  not  made,  they  come. 

Speech  to  the  Anti-Slavery  Society,  Boston,  Jan.  28,  1852. 
He  also  said  in  this  speech,  "  There  is  no  Canaan  in  politics." 

Our  self-made  men  are  the  glory  of  our  institutions. 
Speech  in  Boston,  Dec.  21,  1860. 

You  can  always  get  the  truth  from  an  American 
statesman  after  he  has  turned  seventy,  or  given  up 
all  hope  of  the  Presidency. 

Speech  011  the  election  of  Lincoln,  Nov.  7,  1860. 

Civilization  dwarfs  political  machinery. 

Ibid. 

When  Infinite  Wisdom  established  the  rules  of  right  and 
honesty,  he  saw  to  it  that  justice  should  be  always  the  highest 
expediency. 

Difference  of  religion  breeds  more  quarrels  than  difference  of 
politics.  —  Ibid. 

You  must  stand  afar  off  to  judge  St.  Peter's. 

Speech  in  Boston,  Feb.  17,  1861.  Northcote  once  said,  "Great 
objects  can  only  be  seen  at  a  distance."  Phillips  also  said  in 
this  speech,  "  All  that  is  valuable  in  the  United  States  Constitu- 
tion is  one  thousand  years  old ;  "  and  again,  "  Revolutions  never 
go  backward." 


PIIOCION.  441 


"War  and  Niagara  thunder  to  a  music  of  their  own."  (In 
Boston,  April  21,  1801.) 

One,  on  God's  side,  is  a  majority. 

Speech  in  Brooklyn,  on  John  Brown,  Xov.  1,  1859,  in  which  he 
said,  "Insurrection  of  thought  always  precedes  insurrection  of 
arms  ;  "  and  again,  "  Every  man  meets  his  Waterloo  at  last,"  or, 
as  elsewhere,  "  Every  man  has  his  Moscow." 

Whether  in  chains  or  in  laurels,  liberty  knows  noth- 
ing but  victories. 

Ibid. 

He  said  in  a  speech  in  Boston,  Oct.  4,  1859,  "Give  to  the 
masses  nothing  to  do,  and  they  will  topple  down  thrones,  and. 
cut  throats :  give  them  the  government  here,  and  they  will  make 
pulpits  useless,  and  colleges  an  impertinence ; "  and  again, 
"  Books,  churches,  governments,  are  what  we  make  them." 

PHOCION. 

[An  Athenian  general  and  statesman,  born  about  402  B.C.;  con- 
tributed to  the  victory  of  Naxos,  376;  opposed  Demosthenes  on  the 
question  of  war  against  Philip  of  Macedon,  and  was  the  leader  of 
the  conservative  party ;  condemned  on  an  unjust  charge  of  treason, 
and  put  to  death  317  B.C.] 

Have   I  inadvertently  let   some  bad  thing  slip  from 
me? 

When  in  a  public  debate  his  opinion  happened  to  be  received 
with  universal  applause.  — PLUTARCH  :  Life.  Gensonne,  a  lead- 
er of  the  Girondists,  asked  Vergniaud  one  day,  why  he  appeared 
sad ;  and  the  great  orator  replied,  "I  had  the  misfortune  yester- 
day to  be  praised  by  Marat  "  (//  m' arrive  un  grand  malheur:  hier 
Marat  a  dit  du  bien  de  moi). 

Demosthenes,  the  leader  of  the  democratic  party,  said  on  one 
occasion  to  Phocion,  "  The  Athenians  will  certainly  kill  thee, 
some  day  or  other  :  "  to  which  Phocion  replied,  "  They  may  kill 
me,  if  they  are  mad ;  but  it  will  be  you,  if  they  are  in  their 
senses,"  or,  "when  they  return  to  their  senses."  -PLUTARCH: 
Life. 


442  CHARLES   C.   PINCKNEY. 

The  good  have  no  need  of  an  advocate. 

When  his  friends  found  fault  with  him  for  appearing  in  behalf 
of  a  man  who  did  not  deserve  it.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life. 

He  would  not  suffer  any  sacrifices  or  rejoicings  to  be  made  on 
the  receipt  of  the  news  of  Philip's  death.  "  Nothing,"  he  said, 
"can  show  greater  meanness  of  spirit  than  expressions  of  joy  on 
the  death  of  an  enemy." 

The  Senate  asked  Phocion's  opinion  whether  they  should  grant 
Alexander's  request  for  a  supply  of  ships :  "  I  am  of  opinion," 
he  replied,  "that  you  should  either  have  the  sharpest  sword,  or 
keep  upon  good  terms  with  those  who  have." 

When  news  was  brought  of  the  death  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
Demades  advised  the  people  to  give  no  credit  to  it,  "For,"  said  he, 
"  if  Alexander  were  dead,  the  whole  world  would  smell  the  car- 
cass ; ':  but  Phocion  told  them,  "  If  Alexander  is  dead  to-day,  he 
will  be  so  to-morrow  and  the  day  following :  so  we  may  deliberate 
in  that  event  at  our  leisure,  and  take  our  measures  with  safety." 

And  dost  thou  think  it  nothing  for  the  Athenians  to 
be  buried  in  the  sepulchres  of  their  ancestors? 

When  Leosthenes  sneeringly  asked  him  what  good  he  had 
done  during  the  many  years  he  had  been  general.  Phocion 
compared  the  speeches  of  Leosthenes  to  cypress-trees:  "They  are 
'  tall  and  comely,  but  bear  no  fruit." 

Antipater  wished  him  to  do  something  inconsistent  with  his 
probity,  but  he  refused  in  these  terms :  "  Antipater  cannot  have 
me  both  for  a  friend  and  a  flatterer." 

Seeing  Theudippus,  who  was  condemned  to  die  with  him 
lamenting  the  hard  fortune  which  consigned  him  to  an  unjust 
death,  Phocion  asked  him,  "  Dost  thou  not  think  it  an  honor  to 
die  with  Phocion  ?  " 

When  the  hemlock  gave  out,  and  the  jailer  demanded  money 
to  buy  more,  Phocion  commanded  it  to  be  given  him,  observing, 
"  One  cannot  even  die  for  nothing  in  Athens." 

CHARLES   COTESWORTH  PINCKXEY. 

[An  American  statesman;  born  at  Charleston,  S.C.,  1746;  min- 
ister to  France,  1796,  but  refused  recognition;  returned  later  with 
Marshall  and  Gerry;  died  1825.] 


ALEXIS  PIRON.  443 


Millions  for  defence,  not  a  cent  for  tribute ! 

The  treaty  made  by  John  Jay  with  England  threatening  to 
involve  the  United  States  in  a  war  with  France,  the  Directory 
refused  to  receive  the  American  minister,  but  threw  out  hints 
that  money  paid  by  the  United  States  might  have  a  favorable 
effect ;  to  which  Pinckney  made  a  reply  which  became  a  watch- 
word. 

ALEXIS  FIRON. 

[A  French  dramatist  and  poet,  called  an  "  epigrammatic  ma- 
chine;" born  at  Dijon,  1689;  wrote  comedies,  and  a  drama  entitled 
"  La  Metromanie,"  considered  his  masterpiece;  chosen  a  member  of 
the  Academy,  1753,  but  rejected  by  the  king;  died  1773.] 

Write  your  own  eulogy. 

To  an  author  who  said  he  would  like  to  compose  a  work  upon 
a  subject  no  one  had  ever  touched,  or  would  ever,  Piron  said, 
"  Faites  votre  eioye  "  (as  we  might  say,  "  Write  your  own  obitu- 
ary ") ;  the  cloye  being  the  laudatory  notice  of  a  deceased  mem- 
ber of  the  French  Academy,  made  by  his  successor. 

Piron 's  own  attempt  to  enter  the  circle  of  the  "  Immortals  "  is 
an  amusing  chapter  of  French  literary  history.  He  had  spoken 
too  slightingly  of  them  to  command  their  suffrages,  calling  them 
on  one  occasion  "the  invalids  of  wit"  (les  invalides  du  bel  esprit); 
and  he  said  of  them,  "They  are  forty  with  the  wit  of  four" 
(Us  sont  a  quarante,  qui  out  de  V esprit  comme  quatre}.  Pushing 
his  way  one  day  into  a  public  sitting  of  the  Academy,  he 
exclaimed,  "  It  is  harder  to  enter  here  than  to  be  received  "  (II 
est  plus  difficile  d'entrer  id  que  d'y  etre  refu)  ;  "  to  be  received  " 
being  the  technical  expression  for  the  formal  introduction  after 
an  election. 

When  asked  what  he  should  say,  if  elected  to  a  vacancy  in 
1750,  he  replied,  "  Oh  !  this  will  be  enough  :  '  Gentlemen,  I  thank 
you  for  the  honor : '  and  all  will  answer,  '  It  is  not  worth  mention- 
ing '  '  (II  n'y  a  pas  de  quoi).  Piron  was  not  elected.  He  said  of 
his  failure,  "  I  could  not  make  thirty-nine  people  think  as  I  do, 
and  I  could  less  think  as  thirty-nine  do."  Three  years  after- 
wards he  was  successful ;  but  Louis  XV.,  under  the  influence  of 
Mine,  de  Pompadour,  annulled  the  election,  giving  him  instead  a 


444  ALEXIS  PIRON. 


pension  of  a  thousand  louis.     Shortly  afterwards,  Piron  sent  his 
testament  to  the  Academy  with  the  well-known  epitaph  inscribed 

upon  it,  — 

"  Ci  git  Piron,  qui  ne  fut  rien, 

Pas  menie  academicien." 
(Here  lies  Piron,  who  was  nothing,  not  even  an  Academician.) 

The  entire  Academy  was  invited  to  his  funeral,  but  not  a 
member  attended  it ;  which  the  wits  considered  a  compliment  to 
Piron,  even  of  whose  ghost  "the  Forty"  stood  in  awe.  Sainte- 
Beuve  notices  that  the  epitaph  was  not  strictly  true,  as  its  sub- 
ject was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Dijon;  but  Dr.  Johnson 
could  have  told  him  that  "  in  lapidary  inscriptions  a  man  is  not 
upon  oath." 

Humanity  may  be  allowed  to  stagger  when  divinity 
succumbs. 

On  being  reproached  with  drinking  a  glass  of  wine  on  Good 
Friday,  he  replied,  "  You  are  wrong :  le  jour  oil  la  divinite  suc- 
combe,  Vhumanite  peut  bien  chanceler." 

When  some  one  asked  why  a  bridge  they  were  crossing  had 
no  railings  (garde-fous,  literally  "fool-protectors"),  Piron  an- 
swered, "  Because  they  did  not  think  that  we  should  ever  cross 
it !  "  (C'est  qu'on  ne  savait  pas  que  nous  y  passcrions  !) 

He  slyly  reproved  the  love  of  notoriety  of  the  poet  Rousseau 
(Jean  Baptiste,  1670-17-11),  who  fell  on  his  knees  at  the  sound  of 
the  Angelus,  as  they  were  walking  over  a  deserted  plain :  "It  is 
unnecessary,  God  alone  sees  us  "  (Cda  est  inutile,  il  n'y  a  que  Dieu 
qui  nous  voit). 

When  a  supercilious  host  said  one  day  to  a  guest  who  hesi- 
tated to  pass  in  to  dinner  before  Piron,  whom  he  did  not  know, 
"  Don't  be  ceremonious,  marquis,  this  gentleman  is  only  a  poet;  " 
the  poet  stepped  quickly  in  front,  saying,  "  Since  our  titles  are 
recognized,  I  pass  first!  "  (Eh  bien,  puisque  Ics  qualites  sont  recon- 
nues,  je  passe  le  premier .') 

The  Abbe  Des  Fontaines,  whose  morals  were  any  thing  but 
severe,  and  who  had  resigned  his  benefice  to  devote  himself  to 
literature,  exclaimed  one  day  in  the  Cafe  Procope,  of  Piron's 
magnificent  attire,  "What  a  coat  for  such  a  man!"  (Quel  habit 
pour  un  tel  homme  /)  Piron  took  hold  of  the  abbe's  soutane,  say- 


WILLIAM  PITT.  445 


ing,  "What  a  man  for  such  a  coat!  "  (Quel  homme  pour  un  tel 
habit  /) 

Voltaire  asked  Piron's  opinion  of  his  "  Narcisse,"  first  pro- 
duced June  16,  1749,  saying,  "  I  think  you  would  have  been  very 
glad,  had  Piron  written  it."  —  "  Why?  "  —  "  Because  it  was  not 
hissed,"  was  Voltaire's  reason.  "  Can  we  hiss  when  we  are 
yawning?  "  (Peut-on  siffler,  quand  on  bailie?}  asked  Piron. 

The  Archbishop  of  Paris  asked  Piron  with  the  affected  non- 
chalance of  vanity,  "  Well,  Piron,  have  you  read  my  charge  ?  "  — 
"  No,  rnonseigneur :  have  you  ?  "  was  the  cool  reply. 

WILLIAM  PITT. 

[The  celebrated  English  statesman,  second  son  of  the  Earl  of 
Chatham;  born  in  Kent,  1759;  educated  at  Cambridge;  entered  Par- 
liament, 1781;  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  1782;  prime  minister,  1783; 
involved  England  in  a  war  with  the  French  Republic,  1793,  which 
was  continued  after  the  rise  of  Napoleon;  resigned  1801;  prime  min- 
ister again  in  1804  until  his  death,  Jan.  23,  1806.] 

I  am  glad  I  am  not  the  eldest  son.  I  want  to  speak  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  like  papa. 

Young  Pitt  showed  that  "  the  child  is  father  of  the  man  "  by 
his  exclamation  at  seven  years  of  age,  August,  1766,  when  told 
that  his  father  had  been  made  Earl  of  Chatham. 

Jennings  quotes  an  entry  in  Horner's  journal,  1805,  that  dur- 
ing some  conversation  concerning  the  sports  and  exercises  of  the 
common  people,  and  the  impolicy  of  suppressing  innocent  amuse- 
ments, Pitt's  name  was  mentioned  among  those  whose  opinion 
on  that  subject  might  be  of  importance ;  and  Windham  ex- 
claimed, "  Oh,  Pitt  never  was  a  boy  !  " 

And,  if  this  inauspicious  union  be  not  already  con- 
summated, in  the  name  of  my  country  I  forbid  the 
banns. 

The  figure  with  which  he  closed  what  Brougham  pronounced 
the  finest  of  his  speeches.  It  was  upon  the  unpopular  coalition 
between  Fox  and  Lord  North,  and  the  peace  of  Amiens,  which 
Sheridan  said  "all  men  were  glad  of,  but  no  man  was  proud 
of."  The  war  which  followed  the  rupture  of  the  peace,  Pitt 
called  "  a  conflict  of  armed  opinions." 


446  WILLIAM  PITT. 


Stopping  in  a  speech  in  1781,  to  allow  Mr.  Welbore  Ellis  to 
whisper  to  Lord  North  and  Lord  George  Germaine,  Pitt  re- 
marked, "  I  will  wait  until  the  Nestor  of  the  treasury  has  recon- 
ciled the  difference  between  the  Agamemnon  and  the  Achilles 
of  the  American  war." 

During  the  war  with  France  in  1805,  Pitt  called  together  some 
country  gentlemen,  says  Jennings,  to  consider  his  Additional 
Force  Bill.  One  of  them  objected  to  calling  out  the  force  "  ex- 
cept in  case  of  actual  invasion,"  to  which  Pitt  objected  that  it 
would  then  be  too  late.  When  considering  another  clause  to 
render  the  force  more  disposable,  the  same  gentleman  objected 
again,  and  insisted  that  he  would  never  consent  to  its  being  sent 
out  of  England,  —  "except  in  case  of  actual  invasion,"  suggested 
Pitt.  — Anecdotal  History  of  Parliament. 

When  the  Duchess  of  Gordon  said  upon  her  return  to  London, 
"Have  you  been  talking  as  much  nonsense  as  usual,  Mr.  Pitt?  ' 
he  replied,  "  I  am  not  so  sure  about  that,  but  I  think  that  since 
I  saw  your  grace  I  have  not  heard  so  much." 

He  said  in  1780,  on  the  India  Bill,  "  Necessity  is  the  argument 
of  tyrants  and  the  creed  of  slaves." 

u 

Fold  up  the  map  of  Europe ! 

On  entering  his  house  at  Putney,  on  his  return  from  Bath, 
•where  he  had  unsuccessfully  sought  a  return  to  health,  Pitt  ob- 
served a  map  of  Europe,  which  had  been  drawn  down  from  the 
wall :  he  thereupon  turned  to  his  niece,  and  mournfully  said, 
"Roll  up  the  map:  it  will  not  be  wanted  these  ten  years."  — 
STANHOPE  :  Life,  chap.  43.  This  was  immediately  after  the 
battle  of  Austerlitz,  Dec.  2,  1805,  by  which  the  Austrian  and 
Russian  armies  were  crushed,  and  the  coalition  of  those  powers 
with  England  against  Napoleon  destroyed.  Only  a  month  be- 
fore, Pitt  had  said,  in  reply  to  a  toast  to  his  health  at  Guildhall, 
"  England  has  saved  herself  by  her  own  exertions,  and  will,  as  I 
trust,  save  Europe  by  her  example." 

The  Hon.  James  H.  Stanhope,  who  was  present  at  the  death 
of  Pitt,  his  relative,  and  made  a  statement  of  his  last  moments, 
says  that  the  dying  statesman  uttered  these  words  in  a  clearer 
voice  than  usual :  "  Oh,  my  country !  howr  I  love  my  country  !  " 
and  never  spoke  again.  —  Ibid. 


PLATO.  447 

Wilberforce  said  of  him, "  Mr.  Pitt  preferred  power  to  princi- 
ple ;  "  but  of  his  resistance  to  Jacobinical  principles,  "  He  stood 
between  the  living  and  the  dead,  and  the  plague  was  stayed." 

Fox  said  of  his  rival's  speech  on  the  renewal  of  the  war  with 
France,  in  1803,  "  He  has  spoken  with  an  eloquence  which 
Demosthenes  would  have  admired,  perhaps  have  envied." 

Burke  was  moved  even  to  tears  by  Pitt's  first  speech,  and  ex- 
claimed, "  It  is  not  a  chip  of  the  old  block  :  it  is  the  old  block 
itself."  "Pitt  will  be  one  of  the  first  men  in  Parliament,"  said 
a  member  of  the  opposition,  to  Fox.  "  He  is  so  already,"  an- 
swered Fox. 

When  Pitt  was  laid  in  the  grave  of  Chatham,  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  the  Duke  of  Wellington  asked,  "  What  grave  contains 
such  a  father  and  such  a  son?  What  sepulchre  embosoms  the 
remains  of  so  much  human  excellence  and  glory  ?  " 

PLATO. 

[Born  at  Athens  or  in  ^Egina,  about  429  B.C.;  attended  the  school 
of  Socrates;  was  sold  as  a  slave  in  Sicily,  but  released;  on  his  return 
to  Athens  opened  the  Academy,  which  he  conducted  for  more  than 
twenty  years;  died  347  B.C.] 

Good  Xenocrates,  sacrifice  to  the  Graces! 

To  a  morose  and  unpolished  philosopher.  The  advice  was 
repeated  by  Lord  Chesterfield  to  his  son,  whose  manners  were 
reported  to  him  to  be  ungraceful.  —  Letters,  March  9,  1748.  Vol- 
taire, when  asked  his  opinion  of  Milton's  genius,  said  of  the 
character  of  Satan,  considered  the  strongest-drawn  figure  of 
"Paradise  Lost,"  «*  The  ancients  recommended  us  to  sacrifice  to 
the  Graces,  but  Milton  sacrificed  to  the  Devil."  Dr.  Young, 
after  Voltaire  had  ridiculed  Milton's  personification  of  Death, 
Sin,  and  Satan,  in  "Paradise  Lost,"  produced  the  following  im- 
promptu upon  the  French  poet :  — 

"  Thou  art  so  witty,  wicked,  and  so  thin, 
Thou  art  at  once  the  Devil,  Death,  and  Sin." 

Power  and  fortune  must  concur  with  prudence  and 
justice,  to  effect  any  thing  great  in  a  political  capa- 
city. 
PLUTARCH:  Life  of  Dion. 


448  LORD  PLUNKET. 


Great  parts  produce  great  vices,  as  well  as  virtues. 

The  man  who  would  be  truly  happy  should  not  study 
to  enlarge  his  estate,  but  to  contract  his  desires. 

Haughtiness  lives  under  the  same  roof  with  solitude. 

From  Plato's  fourth  letter  to  Dion,  warning  him  against  those 
forbidding  manners  which  were  so  ill  adapted  to  social  and 
political  intercourse.  The  advice  is  preceded  by  a  political  pre- 
cept that  "the  complaisance  which  produces  popularity  is  the 
source  of  the  greatest  operations  in  government." 

As  Plato  was  about  to  leave  Sicily,  Dionysius,  to  palliate  his 
conduct  to  him,  gave  him  several  entertainments,  and  at  one  of 
them  remarked,  "I  suppose,  Plato,  that,  when  you  return  to  your 
companions  in  the  Academy,  my  faults  will  often  be  the  subject 
of  your  conversation ;  "  to  which  the  philosopher  replied,  "  I 
hope  we  shall  never  be  so  much  at  a  loss  for  subjects  in  the 
Academy,  as  to  talk  of  you." 

LORD  PLUNKET. 

[William  Conyngham  Plunket,  first  Lord  Plunket;  an  eminent 
Irish  orator  and  judge;  born  at  Enniskillen,  July,  1764;  educated  at 
Trinity  College,  Dublin;  member  of  the  Irish  Parliament;  solicitor- 
general,  1803;  attorney-general,  1805,  in  which  year  he  was  elected 
to  the  British  House  of  Commons;  lord  chief  justice  of  the  common 
pleas  for  Ireland,  1827-30;  lord  chancellor,  1830-41;  died  1854.] 

Stop,   and  you   shall   have   something   more   to   take 
down! 

When  some  one  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  called  out 
to  take  down  Plunket's  words,  which  interruption  enabled  the 
orator  to  draw  a  still  stronger  picture  of  the  misfortunes  of  his 
country.  When  some  one  remarked  how  sick  of  his  promotion 
a  storm  must  have  made  Lord  Campbell  in  crossing  the  Irish 
Channel,  to  succeed  Plunket  as  Irish  Chancellor ;  "  Yes,"  said 
the  latter,  "  but  it  won't  make  him  throw  up  the  seals." 

When  asked  by  a  judge,  during  the  trial  of  a  cause,  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "kites,"  a  slang  term  for  bills  of  exchange, 
Plunket  replied,  "  In  England  the  wind  raises  the  kites,  but  in 
Ireland  the  kites  raise  the  wind." 


MADAME   DE   POMPADOUR.  449 

MADAME  DE  POMPADOUR. 

[Jeanne  Antoinette  Poisson;  born  in  Paris,  1721;  married  M. 
d'Etioles,  a  tax-gatherer;  attracted  the  favor  of  Louis  XV.,  who 
gave  her  the  title  of  Marquise  de  Pompadour,  1745;  retained  a  domi- 
nant influence  over  him  till  her  death  in  17G4,  among  other  things 
forming  the  coalition  of  France  and  Austria  against  Frederick  the 
Great.] 

Apres  nous  le  deluge. 

The  nonchalant  mot,  "  After  us  the  deluge,"  which  paints  the 
character  of  the  reign  of  Louis  XV.,  is  now  conceded  to  the  mis- 
tress of  the  king,  on  the  authority  of  the  "  Memoirs  "  of  Mine, 
de  Hausset,  1824,  p.  19.  La  Tour,  painter  to  Louis  XV.,  states 
in  his  correspondence,  that,  when  engaged  in  painting  the  Pom- 
padour's portrait,  the  king  entered  the  room  in  a  state  of  great 
dejection,  consequent  upon  the  loss  of  the  battle  of  Rossbach,  in 
which  Frederick  the  Great  gained  an  important  victory  over  the 
combined  French  and  Austrians,  Nov.  5,  1757.  The  marquise 
told  him  lie  must  not  lose  his  spirits,  because  he  would  fall  ill, 
and,  moreover,  it  is  no  matter :  apres  nous  le  deluge.  La  Tour 
remembered  the  remark,  and  when  the  king  was  gone  told  the 
marquise  it  was  better  the  king  fell  sick,  rather  than  that  his 
heart  should  be  hardened. 

Sainte-Beuve  says  that  "  in  the  midst  of  the  contemptible 
deceptions  and  frivolities  of  the  court,  a  vague  and  sinister 
foreboding  haunted  the  king,  like  anticipated  remorse.  '  After 
us  the  deluge,  '  said  the  marquise.  '  Things  will  last  our  time,' 
rejoined  the  careless  king." 

Of  the  wretched  woman  whose  senseless  counsels  lost  France 
some  of  her  fairest  colonies,  Douglas  Jerrold  says  that  it  may 
reasonably  be  doubted  that  her  brain  originated  the  mot  in  ques- 
tion, "  for  it  was  not  an  order  of  brain  that  packs  wisdom  in  few 
syllables."  Larousse  ("Fleurs  Historiques"),  who  attributes  it  to 
the  king,  alludes  to  the  state  of  France  towards  the  end  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XV.,  when  the  spirit  of  inquiry  had  shaken  the 
foundations  of  the  social  structure,  and  the  excesses  of  the  court 
had  tarnished  the  prestige  of  royalty.  Xo  one  saw  the  drift  of 
events  more  clearly  than  the  king.  His  better  instincts,  how- 
ever, were  stifled  by  his  indolence  and  egotism,  until  the  remoii- 


450  ALEXANDER  POPE. 


strances  of  the  clergy  and  the  bar  at  the  corruption  of  the  times 
made  him  exclaim  one  day  to  Mme.  de  Pompadour,  "  I  am 
wearied  by  the  quarrels  of  priests  and  lawyers  :  they  will  end  by 
destroying  the  state ;  they  are  assemblies  of  republicans.  How- 
ever, things  will  last  my  time.  Berri  [afterwards  Louis  XVI.] 
may  extricate  himself  as  best  he  may  :  apres  moi  le  deluge." 

Whoever  may  have  said  it,  the  original  form  of  the  expression 
comes  to  us  but  little  altered  from  the  line  of  an  unknown 
Greek  poet,  which  was  often  quoted  by  the  misanthropic  Tibe- 
rius, "  After  my  death,  perish  the  world  by  fire ! "  which  Xero 
altered  to  "  Nay,  in  my  lifetime ! "  and  laid  half  Rome  in  ashes. 

However  clearly  Louis  XV.  may  have  seen  the  coming  storm 
(and  Fournier  quotes  a  letter  of  the  king  to  Mme.  du  Barry,  in 
which  he  expresses  his  fears  of  the  "  republican  people  "),  he  evi- 
dently did  not  sympathize  with  humanitarian  views ;  for  he  once 
gave  his  grandson  a  box  on  the  ear  for  uttering  such  sentiments, 
adding,  with  involuntary  prophecy,  "  You  will  lose  your  crown 
one  day  or  other,  if  you  talk  at  this  rate." 

On  the  day  of  Mme.  de  Pompadour's  death,  after  the  last 
sacraments  had  been  administered  to  her  as  she  lay  on  a  state- 
bed,  dressed  in  silk,  and  with  painted  cheeks,  she  stopped  the 
cure  of  the  Madeleine  by  saying,  "  Wait  a  moment,  sir,  and  we 
will  leave  together"  (Attendez  un  moment,  M.  le  Cure,  nous  en 
irons  ensemble}. 

Nothing  is  better  authenticated  than  the  indifferent  remark 
with  which  the  king  perceived  that  it  was  raining  hard  on  the 
day  when  her  remains  were  to  be  taken  from  Versailles  to  Paris  : 
"  The  marquise  has  a  very  unpleasant  day  for  her  journey " 
(Mine,  la  Alarquise  rfaura  pas  beau  temps  pour  son  voyage). — 
Noui-elle  Bioy.  Univ.  In  comparison  with  the  cruel  observation 
attributed  to  Louis  XIII.  concerning  his  friend  Cinq-Mars 
(y.  p.  337),  Sainte-Beuve  finds  the  mot  of  Louis  XV.  of  a  sensi- 
"bility  almost  touching.  —  Causer ies  du  Lundi,  II.  471. 

ALEXANDER  POPE. 

[A  celebrated  English  poet;  born  in  London,  May  22,  1688;  wrote 
pastorals  at  sixteen;  "The  Essay  on  Criticism,"  1710;  translated 
Homer's  Iliad,  1713-20;  published  "The  Dunciad,"  1728;  "The  Essay 
on  Man,"  1733;  died  May,  1744.] 


ALEXANDER  POPE.  451 

Party  spirit  is  the  madness  of  many  for  the  gain  of  a 
few. 

In  the  original,  a  letter  to  Blount,  Aug.  27,  1714,  "Party 
spirit,  which  at  least  is  but  the  madness,"  etc.  This  has  been 
attributed  to  Swift,  and  was  inserted  by  Motte  and  Bathurst  in 
his  "Thoughts  on  Various  Subjects,"  1736,  without  any  signa- 
ture or  the  identifying  marks  of  his  other  sayings. 

When  Pope  and  Warburton  failed  through  envy  to  take  the 
honorary  degrees  intended  for  them,  Pope  remarked,  "  We  shall 
take  our  degrees  together  in  fame,  whatever  we  do  at  the  uni- 
versity." 

Pope  said  of  the  victories  of  Prince  Eugene,  "  He  takes  cities 
like  snuff." 

The  following  are  from  Pope's  "Table-Talk  :  "- 

The  great  secret  of  writing  well  is  to  know  thoroughly  what 
one  wrrites  about,  and  not  to  be  affected. 

Arts  are  taken  from  nature,  and  after  a  thousand  vain  efforts 
for  improvements  are  best  when  they  return  to  their  first  sim- 
plicity. 

A  tree  is  a  nobler  object  than  a  prince  in  his  coronation-robes. 

It  is  vanity  that  makes  the  rake  at  twenty,  the  worldly  man 
at  forty,  and  the  retired  man  at  sixty.  We  are  apt  to  think  that 
best  in  general  for  which  we  find  ourselves  best  fitted  in  par- 
ticular. 

True  politeness  consists  in  being  easy  one's  self,  and  in  making 
every  one  about  one  as  easy  as  one  can. 

One  misfortune  of  extraordinary  geniuses  is,  that  their  very 
friends  are  more  apt  to  admire  than  to  love  them. 

When  a  man  is  much  above  the  rank  of  men,  whom  can  he 
have  to  converse  with  ? 

Self-love  would  be  a  necessary  principle  in  every  one,  if  it 
were  only  to  serve  as  a  scale  for  his  love  to  his  neighbor. 

If  I  were  to  begin  the  world  again,  and  knew  just  what  I 
know  now,  I  would  never  write  a  verse. 

There  is  nothing  that  is  meritorious  but  virtue  and 
friendship  ;  and,  indeed,  friendship  is  only  a  part 
of  virtue. 

His  last  words.  —  JOHNSON  :  Life. 


452  DR.   PORSON. 


FORSON. 

[Richard  Person,  an  eminent  Greek  scholar;  born  in  Norwich, 
England,  Dec.  25,  1759;  Greek  professor  at  Cambridge,  1790  or  1792; 
died  September,  1808.] 

In  some  places  he  draws  the  thread  of  his  verbosity 
finer  than  the  staple  of  his  argument. 

From  "Love's  Labor's  Lost,"  V,  1  ;  quoted  in  the  "Letters  to 
Travis,"  of  Gibbon's  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire." 

Wit  is  in  general  the  finest  sense  in  the  world.  I  had 
lived  long  before  I  discovered  that  wit  was  truth. 

When  smoking  began  to  go  out  of  fashion,  learning 
began  to  go  out  of  fashion  also. 

WATSON  :  Life.  He  was  very  irregular  in  his  habits  of  eat- 
ing, dining  one  day  heartily,  and  fasting  the  three  following. 
Thus,  when  asked  by  a  friend  to  stay  to  dinner,  "Thank  you, 
sir,"  he  replied,  "I  dined  yesterday.' 

He  once  offered  to  make  a  rhyme  on  any  subject,  and  the 
Latin  gerund  was  suggested.  He  immediately  responded  to  the 
challenge :  — 

"  When  Dido  found  ^Eneas  would  not  come, 
She  mourned  in  silence,  and  was  di-do-dum." 

If  I  had  a  son,  I  should  endeavor  to  make  him  familiar 
with  French  and  German  authors,  rather  than  with 
the  classics.  Greek  and  Latin  are  only  luxuries. 

Mr.  Southey  is  a  wonderful  writer.  His  works  will 
be  read  when  Homer  and  Virgil  are  forgotten. 

"  And  only  then,"  unnecessarily  added  Byron.  —  Ibid. 

Of  a  volume  of  poems  not  remarkable  for  originality  or  ele- 
gance, he  said,  "  They  have  much  of  Horace,  and  much  of  Virgil, 
but  nothing  Horatian  and  nothing  Virgilian."  —  Ibid. 

A  man  once  said  to  Person,  "  My  opinion  of  you  is  most  con- 
temptible."—  "I  never  knew  an  opinion  of  yours,"  he  retorted, 
"that  was  not  contemptible."  —  Ibid. 

If  I  had  a  carriage,  and  met  a  well-dressed  person  on 
the  road,  I  would  always  invite  him  in,  and  learn 
from  him  what  I  could. 


PORUS.  453 


PORUS. 

[A  king  of  India,  who  opposed  Alexander's  invasion,  326  B.  C., 
and  was  taken  prisoner,  but  restored  to  his  kingdom;  killed  319 
B.C.] 

Like  a  king. 

When  brought  before  Alexander,  and  asked  by  him  how  he 
would  be  treated,  Porus  replied,  "  Like  a  king ; "  adding,  when 
asked  if  that  were  all,  "  Every  thing  is  included  in  that  word 
king."  —  PLUTARCH:  Life  of  Alexander. 

JOHN  PYM. 

[An  English  statesman;  born  in  Somersetshire,  1584;  educated 
at  Oxford;  entered  Parliament,  1604;  opposed  the  court  during  the 
reign  of  James  I.  and  Charles  I. ;  accuser  for  Parliament  at  the  trial 
of  Straff ord;  presented  to  the  House  the  Grand  Remonstrance,  1641; 
lieutenant-general  of  the  ordnance,  1643;  died  in  December  of  that 
year.] 

A  word  spoken  in  season  is  like  an  apple  of  silver, 
and  actions  are  more  precious  than  words. 

In  a  debate  on  a  message  from  Charles  I.,  asking  for  supplies, 
1628.  Compare  Prov.  xxv.  11:  "A  word  fitly  spoken  is  like 
apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver." 

When  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as 
Earl  of  Straft'ord,  Pym  remarked  to  him,  "  You  are  going  to 
leave  us,  but  I  will  never  leave  you  while  your  head  is  upon 
your  shoulders."  They  had  been  friends  before  Wentworth  de- 
serted the  popular  party;  but  when  Pym  attacked  him  at  the 
opening  of  the  Long  Parliament  in  1640,  the  House  immediately 
impeached  the  author  of  "Thorough,"  and  Pym  conducted  the 
trial,  which  resulted  in  Strafford's  conviction  and  execution. 

Lord  Bristol  said  of  Stratford,  "  The  malignity  of  his  prac- 
tices was  hugely  aggravated  by  his  vast  talents,  whereof  God 
hath  given  the  use,  but  the  Devil  the  application." 

When  the  House  of  Commons  was  asked,  in  1628,  if  they 
would  rely  on  the  king's  word,  Pym  replied,  "  We  have  his 
Majesty's  coronation  oath  to  maintain  the  laws  of  England  : 
what  need  we,  then,  take  his  word?" 


454  PYRRHUS. 


PYRRHUS. 

[King  of  Epirus;  horn  about  318  B.C.;  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
295;  invaded  Italy,  280;  Sicily,  278;  Macedonia,  274;  killed  in  a  war 
against  Sparta,  272  B.  C.] 

Another  such  victory,  and  we  are  undone  ! 

After  the  battle  near  Heraclea,  on  the  river  Siris,  in  Italy, 
when  the  long  and  hotly  contested  encounter  with  the  Romans 
was  decided  by  the  advance  of  the  Macedonian  elephants.  A 
large  number  of  his  officers  and  best  troops  had  fallen  ;  and  as  he 
viewed  the  field  of  battle  he  exclaimed,  "  Another  such  victory, 
and  I  must  return  to  Epirus  alone."  —  PLUTARCH:  Apothegms. 
He  therefore  proposed  terms  of  peace,  which  were  rejected  by 
the  Roman  senate.  When  he  asked  his  ambassador  Cineas  how 
the  senate  looked,  he  replied,  "Like  an  assembly  of  kings." 
Daniel  Webster  said  of  Calhoun,  "  He  looked  a  Roman  senator 
in  the  days  when  Rome  survived." 

Pyrrhus  valued  so  highly  his  friend's  persuasive  powers,  that 
he  was  wont  to  say,  "  The  words  of  Cineas  have  won  more  cities 
than  my  own  arms." 

His  soldiers  called  Pyrrhus  "  the  Eagle."  "  May  I  deserve  the 
title,"  said  he,  "  while  I  am  borne  upon  the  wings  of  your  arms." 

PYTHAGORAS. 

[The  celebrated  philosopher;  born  in  Samos,  about  GOO  B.C.; 
visited  foreign  countries,  and  settled  in  Crotona,  Italy,  where  he 
founded  his  brotherhood,  which  soon  became  the  controlling  power 
in  the  state;  according  to  some  accounts,  he  perished  during  an 
attack  upon  one  of  his  meetings,  or  else  died  at  Metapontum  after 
his  sect  had  been  expelled  from  Crotona.] 

Nil  admirari. 

The  caution  against  undue  enthusiasm,  which  is  contained  in 
the  "  Epistles  "  of  Horace,  VI.  1,  and  is  attributed  by  Plutarch 
to  Pythagoras. 

As  soon  as  laws  are  necessary  for  men,  they  are  no 
longer  fit  for  freedom. 

"  When  men  are  pure,"  says  Disraeli,  "  laws  are  useless :  when 
men  are  corrupt,  laws  are  broken." —  Contarini  Fleming. 


SIR  WALTER  RALEIGH.  455 

Friendship  —  one  soul  in  two  bodies. 

"  True  friendship  between  man  and  man,"  says  Plato,  "  is  in- 
finite and  immortal." 

Poke  not  the  fire  with  a  sword. 

Silt   W ALTER  RALEIGH. 

[Written  also  Ralegh.  Born  in  Devonshire,  England,  1552;  studied 
at  Oxford,  enjoyed  the  favor  of  Queen  Elizabeth;  obtained  a  royal 
patent  to  colonize  and  govern  territory  in  North  America;  settled 
Virginia,  1585-87;  accused  of  complicity  in  Lord  Cobhain's  conspir- 
acy, 1002;  confined  in  the  Tower  thirteen  years;  conducted  a  fleet  to 
Guiana,  1617;  beheaded  on  his  former  sentence,  October,  1618.] 

By  seizing  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  you  will  wrest  the 
keys  of  the  world  from  Spain. 

The  advice  Raleigh  gave  Queen  Elizabeth  shows  his  appre- 
ciation of  the  value  of  the  isthmus  from  a  military  and  commer- 
cial point  of  view. 

When  asked  by  the  queen,  wearied  by  his  importunities,  when 
he  would  cease  to  be  a  beggar,  he  replied,  "When,  madam,  you 
cease  to  be  a  benefactress."  It  was  a  more  courtly  answer  than 
that  of  Sir  Edward  Ratcliffe,  who  had  been  a  suitor  for  some 
grants  which  had  been  promised,  but  which  he  had  never  re- 
ceived. He  was  asked  by  the  queen  one  day  what  a  man 
thought  of  when  he  thought  of  nothing :  "  Madam,  he  thinks  of 
a  woman's  promises,"  was  the  bitter  reply.  "  Anger,"  said  Lord 
Bacon,  "makes  dull  men  witty,  but  keeps  them  poor." 

The  tradition  that  Raleigh  won  the  queen's  favor  by  the  sac- 
rifice of  his  mantle  is  unsupported:  but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
his  ambition  found  expression  in  the  line  scratched  on  a  pane  of 
glass,  "  Fain  would  I  climb,  yet  fear  I  to  fall ;  "  to  which  Eliza- 
beth replied,  "  If  thy  heart  fails  thee,  climb  not  at  all." 
FULLER  :  Worthies.  She  was  thinking  perhaps  of  the  aut  non 
tentaris,  aut  per/ice,  of  Ovid. 

The  world  itself  is  but  a  large  prison,  out   of  which 
some  are  daily  led  to  execution. 

When  returning  to  prison  from  his  trial,  where  he  had  encoun- 
tered the  brutality  of  Coke,  who  called  him  a  traitor ;  to  which 


456  SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS. 

Raleigh  replied,  "  I  am  no  traitor.  Whether  I  live  or  die,  I  can 
stand  as  true  a  subject  as  ever  the  king  had." 

Raleigh's  humor  at  his  execution  reminds  one  of  Sir  Thomas 
More.  To  a  servant  who  asked  him  how  he  liked  a  cup  of  sack 
he  had  just  given  him,  he  replied,  "  I  will  answer  you  as  did  the 
fellow  who  drank  of  Sir  Giles's  bowl,  as  he  went  to  Tyburn : 
4  'Tis  a  good  drink  if  a  man  might  but  tarry  by  it.' 

To  his  wife,  who  obtained  the  favor  of  disposing  of  his  body 
after  execution,  he  said,  "  It  is  well,  Bess,  that  thou  mayst  have 
the  disposing  of  that  dead,  of  which  thou  didst  not  always 
have  the  disposing  when  it  was  alive." 

He  dryly  remarked  to  a  friend  who  promised  to  be  present  at 
the  execution,  "  I  do  not  know  if  you  will  get  a  place :  for  my 
part,  I  am  sure  of  one." 

Kissing  the  axe,  he  said,  "  This  gives  me  no  fear.  It  is  a 
sharp  and  fair  medicine  to  cure  me  of  all  my  troubles." 

The  executioner  asked  him  on  which  side  he  preferred  to  lay 
his  head  on  the  block.  "  So  the  heart  be  right,"  replied  Raleigh, 
it  is  no  matter  which  way  the  head  lies ;  "  and,  when  the  execu- 
tioner hesitated  at  the  last  moment,  "What  dost  thou  fear?" 
asked  Raleigh  :  "  strike,  man  !  strike  !  " 

SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS. 

[A  distinguished  English  portrait-painter;  born  in  Devonshire, 
July  16,  1723;  settled  in  London,  174(3;  president  of  the  Royal 
Academy,  1768,  and  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  on  painting;  died 
January,  1792.] 

The  human  face  is  my  landscape. 

Saying  that  he  did  not  enjoy  the  scenery  of  Richmond. 

Polite  behavior  and  a  refined  address,  like  good  pic- 
tures, make  the  least  show  to  ordinary  eyes. 

But  Queen  Isabella  of  Spain  said,  "  Whosoever  hath  a  good 
presence  and  a  good  position  carries  continual  letters  of  recom- 
•  mendatiou." 

Grandeur   is   composed   of   straight   lines;    gentleness 
and  elegance,  of  serpentine  lines. 


RICHARD  I.  457 


Simplicity  is  an  exact  medium  between  too  little  and 
too  much. 

I  thank  you,  sir,  for  bringing  me  off  with  flying  col- 
ors. 

To  a  gentleman  who  had  said,  "Reynolds's  tints  are  admir- 
able, but  his  colors  fly."  Joseph  Vernet,  a  distinguished  French 
painter,  replied  to  Voltaire's  praise  of  his  colors  as  brilliant  and 
durable,  "  My  colors  are  not  sp  durable  as  your  ink." 

RICHARD  I. 

[Called  Cfjeitr  de  Lion,  or  the  Lion-hearted;  king  of  England;  son 
of  Henry  II.;  born  at  Oxford,  July  16,  1157;  revolted  from  his  father, 
and  allied  himself  with  Philip  of  France;  ascended  the  throne,  1189; 
joined  the  Third  Crusade,  1190;  captured  Acre,  July,  1191;  made  a 
truce  with  Saladin,  and  started  homewards,  hut  was  wrecked  on  the 
coast  of  Istria,  and  imprisoned  by  the  Duke  of  Austria;  ransomed, 
1194;  engaged  in  wars  with  Philip  of  France,  in  one  of  which  he  was 
mortally  wounded,  March,  1199.] 

Those  who  are  unwilling  to  rescue,  are  unworthy  to 
view,  the  sepulchre  of  Christ. 

Or,  "  Those  w7ho  are  not  worthy  to  win  the  Holy  City  are  not 
worthy  to  behold  it."  Of  the  jealousies  of  the  crusaders,  which 
prevented  a  combined  attack  upon  the  Saracens,  so  that  Richard 
veiled  his  face  when  one  of  his  retainers,  as  they  ascended  the 
brow  of  a  hill,  exclaimed,  "  This  way,  my  lord,  and  you  will  see 
Jerusalem." 

During  his  absence  his  brother  John  endeavored  to  seize  the 
kingdom  by  reporting  that  Richard  had  perished;  but  took  the 
significant  hint  of  his  friend,  Philip  Augustus  of  France, 
"  Take  care  of  thyself,  the  Devil  is  loose  !  " 

John  was  treated  with  great  magnanimity  by  Richard,  who 
knew  his  brother  well  enough  to  remark,  "  I  hope  I  shall  as 
easily  forget  his  ingratitude  as  he  will  my  forbearance." 

Richard  said  to  some  of  his  counsellors,  on  declining  to  join 
the  Fourth  Crusade,  "You  advise  me  to  dismiss  my  three  daugh- 
ters,—  pride,  avarice,  and  incontinence.  I  bequeath  them  to  the 
most  deserving, --my  pride  to  the  Knights  Templar,  my  avarice 
to  the  monks  of  Citeaux,  and  my  incontinence  to  the  prelates." 


458  CARDINAL  RICHELIEU. 


CARDINAL  RICHELIEU. 

[Armand  Jean  du  Plessis,  a  French  ecclesiastic  and  statesman; 
born  Sept.  5,  1585;  Bishop  of  1*119011,  1G07;  secretary  of  state,  1616; 
cardinal,  1622;  admitted  to  the  royal  council,  1624,  which  he  contin- 
ued to  direct  for  nearly  twenty  years ;  founded  the  French  Academy, 
1635;  supported  the  Protestants  against  Austria  in  the  Thirty  Years' 
AVar,  and  Holland  against  Spain;  died  Dec.  4, 1642.] 

Show  me  six  lines  written  by  the  most  honest  man 
in  the  world,  and  I  will  find  enough  therein  to  hang 
him  (QiCon  me  donne  six  liynes  de  la  main  du  plus  honnete  homine, 
fy  trouverai  de  quoi  le  faire  pendre}. 

Fournier  says  that  the  cardinal  did  not  descend  to  these 
details  of  an  executioner  in  search  of  victims.  The  story  is  told, 
that,  when  the  cardinal  made  this  remark  to  his  secretaries,  one 
of  them,  thinking  to  catch  him,  wrote  upon  a  card,  "One  and 
two  are  three."  -"Blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Trinity,"  cried 
Richelieu,  as  he  read  it:  "  One  and  two  make  one! ' 

Fournier,  however,  admits  the  authenticity  of  the  cardinal's 
maxim,  "  Tout  par  raison  "  (Every  thing  by  reason),  which  Vol- 
taire in  a  letter  to  M.  de  Taules,  March  21,  1TG8,  calls  trivial. 
"  The  policy  of  Henry  IV.,"  says  Fournier,  "seemed  to  Richelieu 
to  be  the  reasonable  one  for  France;  he  took  it  well  into  account, 
and  gave  himself  no  other  task  than  to  continue  it.  Henry  IV. 
had  said,  'I  wish  the  Spanish  language  to  be  heard  only  in 
Spain,  the  German  only  in  Germany ;  but  wherever  French  is 
spoken  ought  to  belong  to  me '  (mats  toute  la  fran^oise  doit  etre  a 
moi).  Such  were  to  be  the  real  boundaries  of  France.  So 
Richelieu  said  in  his  turn,  '  The  aim  of  my  ministry  has  been 
this  :  to  re-establish  the  natural  limits  of  Gaul,  to  identify  Gaul 

*/ 

with  France,  and  wherever  ancient  Gaul  extended  to  establish  a 
new  one.'"  —  L' Esprit  dans  rilistoire,  257. 

Michelet  discredits  Richelieu's  alleged  comparison  between  the 
blood  of  his  victims  and  the  color  of  his  cardinal's  robe: 
"  When  I  have  once  made  up  my  mind,  I  <ro  straight  to  the 

«/  O  O 

point.  I  overturn  every  thing,  I  mow  down  every  thing,  and 
then  I  cover  every  thing  with  my  red  cassock  "  (Quand  une  fois 
fai  pris  ma  resolution,  je  vais  droit  a  mon  but,  je  renverse  tout,  je 
fauche  tout,  et  ensuite  je  couvre  tout  de  ma  soutane  rouge).  "  They 


CARDINAL  RICHELIEU.  459 

are  words,"  says  Michelet,  "which  make  one  shudder."  -Precis 
de  VHistoire  de  France,  237.  Fournier,  however,  thinks  that  by 
the  omission  of  the  words,  "I  mow  down  every  thing"  (Je  fauche 
tout),  it  becomes  merely  the  expression  of  the  cardinal's  indom- 
itable will.  lie  is  more  likely  to  have  used  a  maxim  like  Grant's 
injunction,  "  Let  no  guilty  man  escape;"  which  is  thus  attributed 
to  him,  "  Let  no  fault  go  unpunished." 

The  father  of  De  Thou  had  criticised  in  his  History  of  France 
a  great-uncle  of  the  cardinal ;  who  said,  when  ordering  the  hign- 
minded  and  virtuous  companion  of  Cinq-Mars  to  execution, 
"  Thy  father  put  me  in  his  history,  I  will  put  the  son  in  mine  " 
(Ton  pere  m\i  mis  dans  son  histoire,  je  mettrai  le  fils  dans  la  mienne). 

On  receiving  the  last  sacraments,  Dec.  4,  1642,  he  said,  "  I 
pray  God  to  condemn  me  if  ever  I  meant  aught  save  the  welfare 
of  religion  and  the  state.''  The  cure  asked  him  if  he  forgave  his 
enemies:  "I  have  never  had  any,"  he  replied,  "but  those  of  the 
state  "  (Je  n'en  ai  jamais  eu  d'autres  que  ceux  de  I'etafy.  Fournier 
says  the  remark  was  true.  Even  the  execution  of  Cinq-Mars 
and  De  Thou  was  no  exception,  although  romance  has  thrown  its 
glamour  over  the  fate  of  these  conspirators.  The  rigor  which 
Richelieu  showed  on  this  occasion,  and  which  was  certainly  piti- 
less, checked  other  plots,  and  saved  France  from  dangers  within, 
conspiring  with  threats  from  without  (v.  L' Esprit,  252,  and  note). 
Louis  XIII.  had  given  him  full  powers  to  administer  the  state; 
and  passed  voluntarily  into  the  second  rank,  to  allow  his  minister 
to  take  the  first  place.  It  was  a  generous  abnegation  of  a  power 
he  felt  himself  unable  to  wield.  Fournier  calls  it  ruling  by 
partnership,  —  the  king  furnished  the  power,  the  minister  em- 
ployed it,  and  both  prepared  the  way  for  the  prince  (Louis  XIV.) 
who  was  to  govern  as  well  as  to  reign.  What  contributed  to  the 
duration  and  success  of  this  partnership  between  royal  preroga- 
tive and  ministerial  efficiency  was  the  fact  that  the  man  of  genius, 
to  whom  the  administration  of  power  was  confided,  took  pains  to 
avoid  any  expression  or  action  which  might  excite  his  sovereign's 
jealousy.  Only  one  incident  exhibits  any  such  feeling.  At  the 
close  of  a  ball,  when  piqued  at  the  amount  of  attention  the  cardi- 
nal received,  the  king  ostentatiously  made  way  for  him  to  pass 
before  himself.  Richelieu  seized  a  torch,  as  if  he  were  a  lackey, 
exclaiming,  "  Only  thus  can  I  precede  your  Majesty  1  " 


460  RIVAROL. 


ANTOINE  RIVAROL. 

[Called  also  Comte  de  Rivarol ;  a  witty  French  writer,  denominated 
by  Voltaire  "the  Frenchman  par  excellence;"  born  in  Languedoc, 
1753;  translated  Dante's  "  Inferno;  "  gained  distinction  as  a  journal- 
ist; emigrated  1792;  died  in  Berlin,  1801.] 

It  is  an  immense  advantage  to  have  done  nothing,  but 
one  should  not  abuse  it  (C'est  un  terrible  avantaye  que  de 
n' avoir  rien  fait,  mais  il  nefautpas  en  abuser.) 

When  resolving  to  support  himself  with  his  pen,  which  he 
called  "  that  miserable  accoucheuse  of  wit,  with  its  long,  sharp, 
and  screeching  beak."  — Nouvelle  Biographic  Universelle. 

He  said  he  translated  "  The  Inferno  "'  because  he  found  his 
ancestors  in  it  (J'ai  tr adult  VEnfer  de  Dante,  parce  que  fy  retrou- 
vais  mes  ancetres.) 

To  a  gentleman  who  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  his  last 
book,  "I  do  like  you,  sir,"  he  replied:  "I  do  not  think." 

He  called  Buff on's  dissipated  son  "  the  worst  chapter  in  his 
father's  Natural  History." 

He  could  say  nothing  worse  of  his  life  than  to  compare  it  to 
Mercier,  an  eccentric  dramatist:  "  My  life  is  so  tiresome  a  drama, 
that  I  think  Mercier  must  have  written  it  "  (Ma  vie  est  un  drame 
si  ennuyeux,  que  c'est  Mercier,  je  crois,  qui  I' a  fait). 

He  remarked  of  Beauzee,  a  celebrated  grammarian  of  the  pe- 
riod, "  He  is  a  very  honest  man,  who  has  passed  his  life  between 
the  supine  and  the  gerundive  "  (C'est  un  bien  honnete  homme,  qui  a 
passe' sa  vie  entre  le  supin  et  le  gerondif).  When  obliged  by  his 
bookseller  to  write  a  treatise  on  grammar,  Rivarol,  whom  Burke 
called  "the  Tacitus  of  the  Revolution,"  exclaimed,  "  I  am  like  a 
lover  obliged  to  dissect  his  mistress  "  (Je  ressemble  a  un  amant 
oblige  de  dlssequer  sa  maitresse). 

He  congratulated  a  stupid  man  who  boasted  of  knowing  four 
languages :  "  You  have  four  words  for  one  idea  "  (Je  vous  en  fell- 
cite  :  vous  avez  quatre  mots  contre  une  idee). 

Mine,  de  Stae'l  showed  him  her  foot  at  a  masked  ball,  as  a  suf- 
ficient means  of  recognition ;  knowing  that  she  was  exceedingly 
vain  of  it,  more  than  of  her  face,  which  was  unmistakably  plain, 
he  exclaimed,  "  What  an  ugly  pedestal !  "  (Quel  vllam  piedestal! 
—  pied  de  Stae'l  /) 


RIVAROL.  4G1 


The  passions  are  the  orators  of  great  assemblies. 

Rivarol  said  of  modern  philosophy,  that  "  it  is  nothing  but 
passions  armed  with  principles"  (Z,a  philosophic  moderne  n'est  rien 
autre  chose  que  les  passions  armees  de  princ/pes).  He  pronounced, 
in  178D,  an  accurate  judgment  of  the  course  of  the  French  Revo- 
lution :  "  The  vices  of  the  court  commenced  the  Revolution  :  the 
vices  of  the  people  will  finish  it "  (Les  vices  de  la  cour  ont  com- 
mence' la  revolution:  les  vices  du  peuple  I'acheveront};  but  he  wittily 
said  of  the  nobles,  "They  take  their  recollections  for  rights" 
(/As  prennent  lews  souvenirs  pour  des  drolls').  He  called  the  "Dec- 
laration of  the  Rights  of  Man,"  "  the  criminal  preface  of  an  im- 
possible book"  (la preface  criminelle  d'un  livre  impossible). 

He  remarked  of  the  notoriously  uncleanly  Chevalier  de  P , 

"  He  would  make  a  black  spot  in  mud  "  (//  fait  tache  dans  la 
boue). 

There  is  nothing  so  unready  as  readiness  of  wit. 

Rivarol  sarcastically  remarked  to  Florian,  the  fabulist,  who 
passed  before  him  in  the  Palais  Royal  with  a  manuscript  stick- 
ing out  of  his  pocket,  "  If  you  were  not  known,  how  you  would 
be  robbed ! " 

Impiety  is  the  greatest  of  indiscretions. 

Talleyrand  approved  of  the  demand  of  the  Duchesse  de  Dino 
for  the  last  sacraments  during  a  severe  illness,  by  saying,  "There 
is  no  feeling  less  aristocratic  than  incredulity." 

When  one  gave  Rivarol  a  rose  on  his  death-bed,  he  said,  "  It 
is  going  to  change  to  a  poppy :  I  see  the  great  shadow  of  Eter- 
nity advance."  He  had  already  said  of  Chainfort's  election  to 
the  French  Academy,  that  "it  is  like  grafting  a  lily-of-the-valley 
upon  poppies  "  (C'cst  une  branche  de  muguet  ente'e  sur  des  pavots). 

Rivarol  was  attended  during  his  last  illness,  at  Berlin,  by  the 
physician  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  Dr.  Formiez.  The  day  be- 
fore his  death,  Rivarol  asked  him  if  there  was  any  hope.  The 
doctor  replied,  that  the  patient's  strong  constitution,  assisted  by 
the  means  employed,  ought  to  weather  the  storm.  "Ah,  my 
clear  Formiez,  I  am  afraid,  for  all  that,"  exclaimed  the  dying 
wit,  with  an  untranslatable  pun,  —  "je  crains  bien,  avec  tout  cela, 
que  vous  ne  me  dc-formiez." 


402  ROBESPIERRE. 


MAXIMILIEN  ROBESPIERRE. 

[Born  at  Arras,  May  G,  1758;  educated  at  Paris;  member  of  the 
States-General  and  of  the  Convention;  became  chief  of  the  Jacobins 
and  of  the  "  Mountain;  "  obtained  the  destruction  of  the  king,  of  the 
Girondists,  and  of  the  Dantonists;  president  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety  in  the  Reign  of  Terror;  denounced  finally,  and  guillo- 
tined, July  8,  1794.] 

Louis  must  die  that  the  country  may  live  (Louis  doit 
mourir,  parce  qidlfaut  que  lapatrie  vive). 

The  truth  which  Robespierre  said  he  pronounced  with  regret, 
Dec.  2,  1792,  —  a  sentence  as  inexorable  as  the  signal  to  an  exe- 
cutioner. Neither  regrets  nor  friendships  could  save  the  victims 
of  the  "sea-green  Incorruptible,"  as  Carlyle  calls  him;  the  closest 
relations  had  bound  him  to  Dan  ton,  but  he  declared,  "  If  my 
friend  is  culpable,  I  will  sacrifice  him  to  the  Republic."  Danton 
followed  Louis.  Nevertheless,  Robespierre  endeavored  to  re- 
move an  impression  of  cruelty.  On  the  morning  of  the  terrible 
massacre  of  September,  1792,  he  said,  "I  have  had  the  weakness 
not  to  close  my  eyes;  but  Danton  —  he  has  slept."  Government 
was  not  for  him.  "  I  was  not  made  to  rule,"  he  said  :  "  I  was 
made  to  combat  the  enemies  of  the  people."  Remorse  is  not 
supposed  to  have  pursued  him,  yet  such  words  as  these  are  at- 
tributed to  him :  "  AVhat  a  memory  I  shall  leave  behind  me  if 
this  lasts  !  " 

The  moderate  men  of  the  dominant  faction,  Barras,  Tallien, 
etc.,  finally  determined  to  stop  the  carnage  of  the  Terror. 
When  threatened  in  the  Convention,  and  told  that  he  had  de- 
clared all  his  enemies  guilty,  Robespierre  denied  it ;  "  And  the 
proof  is  that  you  live,"  he  added,  with  a  consciousness  of  the 
power  he  had  wielded.  Even  in  their  death  the  Revolutionists 
compared  themselves  to  the  Greek  and  Roman  patriots.  "  I  am 
ready,"  exclaimed  Robespierre,  "  if  necessary,  to  drink  the  cup 
of  Socrates."  His  words  found  an  echo  in  his  friend  David, 
the  ferocious  painter  of  the  Revolution  :  "  I  will  drink  the  hem- 
lock with  thee  !  "  (Je  boirai  la  ciaue  avec  toi  /)  When  Gamier 
de  1'Aube  reproached  the  wounded  Robespierre,  who  could  only 
speak  with  a  stifled  voice,  with  being  choked  with  the  blood  of 
Danton,  he  whispered,  "Is  it,  then,  Danton  you  regret?  Cow- 


SIR  BOYLE  ROCHE.  4G3 

ards  !  why  did  you  not  defend  him  ?  '  These  were  his  last 
words  in  public. 

That  Robespierre  attempted  suicide  is  considered  by  Four- 
nier  as  definitely  settled  in  the  negative,  notwithstanding  the 
sanction  given  to  the  opposite  theory  by  Thiers'  "  History  of  the 
French  Revolution."  The  report  of  the  surgeons  who  dressed 
the  wound  showed  that  the  ball  which  fractured  the  lower  jaw 
took  a  course  from  left  to  right,  and  from  above  downwards. 
The  pistol  must,  therefore,  have  been  discharged  by  another 
person  ;  and  its  testimony  supports  quoad  hoc  the  assertion  of 
the  gendarme  Meda,  that  he  wounded  the  dictator.  —  L'Esprit, 
402,  note. 

Among  Robespierre's  notes  wras  found  this  Question  :  "  When 
will  the  interests  of  governments  be  amalgamated  with  those  of 
the  people  ?  Never  !  " 

SIH  BOYLE  ROCHE. 

[An  Irish  soldier  and  politician;  entered  the  army,  and  served 
with  distinction  in  America;  resigning  his  commission,  obtained  a 
seat  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  "  where,  through  his  pleasant  interfer- 
ence, the  most  angry  debates  were  frequently  concluded  with  peals 
of  laughter;"  was  master  of  ceremonies  at  Dublin  Castle;  died 
1807.] 

I  would  gladly  sacrifice,  Mr.  Speaker,  not  only  a  part 
of  the  Constitution,  but  the  whole  of  it,  to  preserve 
the  remainder. 

Arguing  in  favor  of  the  Habeas  Corpus  Suspension  Bill  in 
Ireland.  Biichmann  quotes  Deputy  Kell  in  the  Saxon  Parlia- 
ment :  "  I  am  indeed  ignorant  of  the  government's  reasons,  but  I 
disapprove  of  them  "  (7cA  kenne  zwar  die  Griinde  der  Rerjierung 
nicht,  alter  ich  mislrilliye  sie).  President  Harrison's  message  as 
originally  delivered  congratulated  Congress  that  "the  United 
States  are  at  peace  with  all  the  world,  and  sustain  amicable  rela- 
tions with  the  rest  of  mankind." 

When  painting  the  dangers  of  an  invasion  of  the  French, 
during  the  Revolution,  Sir  Boyle  exclaimed,  "  The  murderous 
marshal-law  men  \_Marsellais]  would  break  in,  cut  us  to  mince- 
meat, and  throw  our  bleeding  heads  upon  that  table  to  stare 


464  SAMUEL  ROGERS. 


us  in  the  face." --Recollections  of  Sir  Jonah  Harrington,  p.  136. 
He  was  surpassed  by  the  orator  in  one  of  the  sections  of  Paris, 
during  the  Revolution,  who  said,  "I  would  take  my  own  head 
by  the  hair,  cut  it  off,  and  presenting  it  to  the  despot,  would  say 
to  him,  '  Tyrant,  behold  the  act  of  a  free  man  ! '  "  —  TAINE  : 
French  Revolution.  This  reduces  the  miraculous  walk  of  St. 
Denis,  with  his  head  in  his  hands  (u.  p.  180),  to  a  mere  "con- 
stitutional." 

The  following  declaration  of  Sir  Boyle  is  to  be  commended 
as  a  happy  illustration  of  mixed  metaphor:  "Mr. -Speaker,  I 
smell  a  rat ;  I  see  him  floating  in  the  air ;  but  mark  me,  sir, 
I  will  nip  him  in  the  bud." 

Except  in  his  bulls,  Sir  Boyle  would  never  attempt  the  im- 
possible. When  some  one  said  that  the  sergeant-at-arms  should 
have  stopped  a  man  in  the  rear  of  the  house  when  he  was  trying 
to  catch  him  in  front,  Roche  asked,  "Did  he  think  the  sergeant- 
at-arms  could  be,  like  a  bird,  in  two  places  at  once  ?  " 

lie  was  shocked  at  the  tempera,  et  mores  of  "  young  Ireland  :  " 
"  The  progress  of  the  times,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  such,  that  little 
children  who  can  neither  walk  nor  talk  may  be  seen  running 
about  the  streets,  cursing  their  Maker  !  " 

When  Curran  exclaimed  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  "I  am  the 
guardian  of  my  own  honor,"  Sir  Boyle  Roche  wished  the  gentle- 
men "joy  of  his  sinecure  appointment."  —  Recollections  of  Sir 
Jonah  Barrinf/ton.  It  is  sometimes  quoted,  "  Faith,  I  knew  the 
honorable  gentleman  would  accept  a  sinecure." 

On  a  motion  to  expel  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald  for  disrespect 
to  the  lord  lieutenant,  Roche  expressed  an  idea  more  happily 
than  would  have  been  expected  of  him  :  "  He  is  a  gentleman ; 
and  none  such  should  be  asked  to  make  an  apology,  because  no 
gentleman  could  mean  to  give  offence."  —  Ibid. 

"  The  best  way,"  he  said,  "  to  avoid  danger  is  to  meet  it 
plump."  —  Ibid.,  p.  137. 

SAMUEL  ROGERS. 

[The  English  hanker-poet;  born  in  a  suburb  of  London,  July  30, 
17(>:'>;  published  his  first  poems,  1786;  "The  Pleasures  of  Memory," 
17«L>;  "Italy,"  1822  ami  18MJ;  his  house  was  for  many  years  the  re- 
sort of  literary  and  political  celebrities;  died  December,  1855.J 


SAMUEL  ROGERS.  465 

When  I  was  young,  I  used  to  say  good-natured  things, 
and  nobody  listened  to  me.  Now  that  I  am  old,  I  say 
ill-natured  things,  and  everybody  listens  to  me. 

Ward,  afterwards  Lord  Dudley,  having  severely  criticised  the 
poet's  "  Italy,"  Rogers  was  called  upon  to  compose  extempore  an 
epitaph  upon  him,  and  gave  this,  in  allusion  to  the  story  that  his 
critic  was  accustomed  to  practise  his  speeches,  which  he  gave  out 
as  unpremeditated :  — 

"  Ward  has  no  heart,  they  say,  but  I  deny  it: 
He  has  a  heart,  and  gets  his  speeches  by  it." 

When  Ward,  who  had  been  a  Whig,  turned  Tory,  and  said, 
"  I  wonder  what  would  make  me  turn  Whig  again,"  Byron  re- 
plied, "They  have  only  to  re-ward  you/' 

A  lady,  with  whom  he  was  constantly  at  war,  exclaiming  at 
table,  "Now,  Mr.  Rogers,  I  know  you  are  talking  about  me," 
he  paid  her  the  doubtful  compliment  of  replying,  "  Lady  Davy, 
I  pass  my  life  in  defending  you." 

When  a  certain  marriage  was  spoken  of,  with  which  the 
friends  of  the  bridegroom  were  said  to  be  pleased,  Rogers  re- 
marked, "  His  friends  are  pleased,  and  his  enemies  are  de- 
lighted." 

Seeing  a  painting  by  Murillo,  of  Abraham  entertaining  the 
angels,  who  were  not  represented  of  angelic  appearance,  the  poet 
observed,  "  I  do  not  wonder  at  Abraham  entertaining  the  angels 


unawares." 


When  asked  if  he  attended  the  lectures  on  the  art  of  memory, . 
he  replied,  "I  wish  to  learn  the  art  of  forgetting."     This-  is  as 
old  as  Themistocles,  who,  when  Simonides  offered  to  teach  him 
the  art  of  memory,  replied,  "  Ah  !  rather  teach  me  the  art  of  for- 
getting."—  PLUTARCH  :  Life,  note. 

When  Croker  wrote  his  review  of  Macaulay's  History 
in  "  The  Quarterly  Review,"  he  intended  murder,  but 
committed  suicide. 

Of  Lord  Holland's  "sunshiny"  face  Rogers  said," "He  always 
comes  to  breakfast  like  a  man  upon  whom  some  sudden  good 
fortune  had  fallen."    Talleyrand  called  Lord  Holland  "benevo- 
lence itself,  but  the  most  disturbing  that  was  ever  seen  "  (c'est  la  < 
bienveillance  meme,  mais  la  plus  perturbalrice  qu'on  ait  jamais  vue).  . 


466  MADAME  ROLAND. 

Rogers  illustrated  Tom  Moore's  restless  temperament  by  the 
remark,  "Moore  dines  in  one  place,  wishing  he  had  dined  in 
another  place,  with  an  opera-ticket  in  his  pocket  which  makes 
him  wish  he  were  dining  nowhere." 

A  man  who  attempts  to  read  all  the  new  productions 
must  do  as  the  flea  does,  —  skip. 

He  also  said,  "When  a  new  book  comes  out,  I  read  an  old 

one.'1     He  was  of  the  same  opinion  as  Alonso  of  Aragon,  who 

said,  "  Among  so  many  things  as  are  by  men  possessed  or  pur- 

.  sued  in  the  whole  course  of  their  lives,  all  the  rest  are  baubles 

beside  old  wood  to  burn,  old  wine  to  drink,  old  friends  to  trust, 

old  authors  to  read ; "  appropriated  by  Goldsmith,  "  She  Stoops 

;to  Conquer,'  I.  1.     Lord  Mansfield  used  to  give  a  toast,  "Young 

friends  and  old  books."  —  CAMPBELL:  Life. 

Women  have  the  understanding  of  the  heart,  which 
is  better  than  that  of  the  head. 

In  Italy  the  memory  sees  more  than  the  eye. 

Table-Talk. 

It  does  not  much  signify  whom  one  marries,  as  one 
.is  sure  to  find  next  morning  that  it  was  some  one 
.  else. 

An  author  -saw  Rogers  looking  at  the  list  of  subscribers  to  a 
new  work,  and  asked  him  if  he  were  looking  at  the  contents : 
-"  No,  the  dis-conteuts,"  was  the  reply. 

MADAME  ROLAND. 

[Marie  Jeanne  Philipon,  one  of  the  most  gifted  women  of  France; 
born  in  Paris,  March  17,  1754;  married  Roland  de  la  Platiere,  1780; 
enlisted  with  ardor  in  the  French  Revolution ;  aided  her  husband  in 
his  duties  of  minister  of  the  interior;  committed  to  prison  as  a  parti- 
san of  the  Girondists,  where  she  wrote  her  "Memoirs;"  executed 
Nov.  9,  1793.] 

It  is  not  position,  but  mind,  that  I  want. 

To  her  father,  when  rejecting  a  suitor;  the  natural  sentiment 
of  a  girl  educated  upon  Plutarch's  "  Lives,"  which  were  the 
source  of  much  of  the  language  and  many  of  the  appellations 


MADAME  ROLAND.  467 

of  the  Revolutionists,  when  private  soldiers  called  themselves 
Curtius  and  Horatius  Codes.  Thus  nothing  else  could  close  a 
letter  of  Mine.  Roland  to  Brissot,  Jan.  7,  1791,  but,  "The  wife 
of  Cato  must  not  amuse  herself  with  paying  compliments  to 
Brutus  "  (La  femme  de  Caton  ne  s*  amuse  point  a  faire  des  compli- 
ments a  Brutus). 

She  said  to  Bancal,  "  It  is  not  necessary  to  die  for  liberty : 
there  is  more  for  us  to  do  ;  we  must  live  to  establish  it  "  (//  n'cst 
pas  question  de  mourir  pour  la  liberte':  il  y  a  plus  a  faire :  il  faut 
vivre  pour  FetabKr) ;  and  again,  "  Security  is  the  happiness  of 
liberty"  (La  se'curite  est  le  bonheur  de  la  liberte').  Of  the  relations 
of  the  people  to  the  ruler  she  expressed  the  opinion,  "Indul- 
gence to  men  in  power  impels  them  to  despotism  "  (Lf  indulgence 
envers  les  hommes  en  autorite'  est  le  moyen  de  les  pousser  au  despo- 
tisme). 

O  Liberty!  how  many  crimes   are   committed  in  thy 
name! 

The  sympathetic  relations  she  sustained  to  Buzot,  a  young 
and  enthusiastic  Girondist,  and  her  intimate  connection  with  all 
the  leaders  of  that  party,  involved  her  in  their  ruin.  "  There 
went  with  her  to  the  guillotine  a  certain  Lamarche,  '  director  of 
assignat-printing,' whose  dejection,''  says  Carlyle,  "she  endeav- 
ored to  cheer ;  "  assuming,  as  another  authority  states,  that  his 
weakness  was  of  a  physical  and  not  of  a  moral  character.  "As- 
cend before  me,"  she  said:  "you  would  not  have  strength  enough 
to  see  me  die"  (Montez  le  premier  :  vous  n'auriez  pas  la  force  de 
me  voir  mourir).  She  said  to  the  executioner,  who  assured  her 
that  if  he  allowed  her  to  retain  her  hair,  he  would  expose  her  to 
frightful  torture  when  the  knife  fell,  "  Strange  that  humanity 

O  •/ 

should  take  refuge  in  such  an  unlikely  person  as  you  !  " 

She  stood  in  front  of  a  colossal  statue  of  Liberty,  to  which 
she  addressed  the  celebrated  apostrophe,  "  0  Libert^  que  de  crimes 
on  commet  en  ton  nom.'"  Others  reported  that  she  said,  "How 
they  have  deceived  thee!"  (Comme  on  Ca  joue'e  /)  She  had  pre- 
viously demanded  pen  and  paper  to  write  down  the  strange 
thoughts  that  were  rising  in  her. —  Memoirs,  Appendix.  Goethe 
regretted  that  this  remarkable  request  was  not  granted  ;  "  for  at 
the  end  of  life  thoughts  hitherto  impossible  come  to  the  collected 


468  EUGENE  ROUHER. 


mind,  like  good  spirits  (Dcimone)  which  let  themselves  down 
from  the  shining  heights  of  the  past." — Kunst  und  Alterthum, 
5,2. 

Her  husband  committed  suicide  in  the  same  month  ;  and  near 
his  body  was  found  a  scrap  of  paper  containing  the  words, 
"  After  my  wife's  murder  I  would  not  remain  any  longer  in  a 
world  so  stained  with  crime." 

EUGENE  ROUHER. 

[A  French  statesman,  called  by  Ollivier,  on  account  of  his  influ- 
ence, "  a  vice-emperor  without  responsibility;  "  born  at  Riom,  1814; 
member  of  the  Constituent  Assembly,  1848;  minister  of  justice,  1849; 
vice-president  of  the  council  of  state;  minister  of  agriculture,  com- 
merce, and  public  works;  president  of  the  council;  minister  of  jus- 
tice and  of  finance  at  different  times  under  the  empire;  president  of 
the  Senate,  1869;  member  of  the  National  Assembly,  1871;  retired 
from  public  life,  1880.] 

Jamais  ! 

The  celebrated  "Never!"  of  M.  Rouher  was  uttered  in  the  Corps 
Legislatif,  Dec.  3,  1868,  on  the  question  of  giving  further  aid  to 
Italy,  after  the  acquisition  of  Venetia,  to  enable  her  to  acquire 
the  States  of  the  Church,  including  Rome.  "  We  declare,"  he 
said,  "in  the  name  of  the  French  government,  that  Italy  shall 
not  take  possession  of  Rome — never  [here  the  Right  interrupted 
him  with  cries  of  "Never!  never!"]  never  will  France  permit 
that  violence  to  be  done  to  her  honor  and  her  Catholicity !  " 
(Nous  declarons  au  nom  du  gouvernement  francais,  Vltalie  ne  s'em- 
parera  pas  de  Rome,  jamais  la  France  ne  supportera  cette  violence 
a  son  honneur  et  a  sa  catholic ite'). 

JEAN  JACQUES  ROUSSEAU. 

[The  philosopher;  born  at  Geneva,  June  28,  1712;  ran  away  from 
home  at  an  early  age,  and  was  received  by  Mme.  de  "SVarens  at 
Annecy,  who  procured  him  a  clerkship;  went  to  Paris,  1741;  wrote 
the  "Nouvelle  Heloise,"  1760;  "  Le  Contrat  Social,"  1762;  "  Emile," 
1762,  on  account  of  which  he  fled  to  Neufchatel;  thence  to  England 
at  Hume's  invitation;  returned  to  France,  1767;  began  writing  his 
"Confessions,"  1766;  died  July  2,  1778.] 


ROYER-COLLARD.  469 


In  the  North  the  first  words  are  "Help  me;"  in  the 
South,  "Love  me." 

Indicating  that  the  characteristic  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
North  of  France  was  selfishness ;  of  those  of  the  South,  affection. 

When  his  watch  was  stolen,  he  exclaimed,  "  Thank  Heaven,  I 
no  longer  need  to  know  what  o'clock  it  is  "  (Grace  au  ciel,je  n'ai 
plus  besoin  de  sauoir  Vheure  qu'tt  esi). 

He  wrote  to  Voltaire,  who  offered  him  an.  asylum  at  Ferney 
after  the  publication  of  "  Emile,"  "  I  love  you  not;  you  are  spoil- 
ing my  republic  [Geneva]  with  your  comedies,  in  return  for  the 
asylum  she  has  given  you  "  (vous  corrompez  ma  republique  pour 
prix  de  Vasile  qu'elle  vous  a  donne').  Voltaire  called  him  at  one 
time  "  a  watchmaker's  apprentice  "  (un  garpon  liorloger) ;  and 
said  of  Rousseau's  refusal  of  his  invitation,  "  Our  friend  J\  J.  is 
sicker  than  we  thought :  he  needs  not  counsel,  but  good  beef-tea" 
(Ce  ne  sont  pas  des  conseils,  ce  sont  des  bons  bouillons,  qu'ilfaui). 

Rousseau  supported  himself  miserably  at  one  time,  by  copying 
music ;  upon  which  he  was  engaged  when  visited  by  the  Emperor 
Joseph  II. ,  who  exclaimed,  "  So  great  a  man  copies  music!  "  to 
which  Rousseau  replied,  "I  tried  to  teach  Frenchmen  to  think, 
it  failed  :  now  they  may  sing  and  dance ! "  On  the  death  of 
Louis  XV.  he  said,  "  There  were  two  despised  men  in  France, 
the  king  and  I :  I  am  now  alone." 

After  the  quarrel  which  terminated  his  intimacy  with  Rous- 
seau, Diderot  said,  "  Too  many  honest  people  would  be  wrong, 
if  Jean  Jacques  were  right ;  "  but  Rousseau's  motto  was  "  Vitam 
impendere  vero  "  (Sacrifice  life  to  truth),  from  Juvenal,  "  Satires," 
iV.  91. 

Voltaire  remarked  on  Rousseau's  article  concerning  the  Ine- 
quality of  Conditions,  "  This  man  tries  to  resemble  Diogenes, 
and  he  does  not  resemble  Diogenes'  dog." 

ROYER-COLLARD. 

[Pierre  Paul  Royer-Collard,  a  French  philosopher  and  statesman ; 
"born  at  Sorapuis,  June  21,  1763;  supported  the  Revolution,  but  retired 
during  the  Terror;  professor  in  the  University  of  France,  1810; 
founded  the  school  of  the  Doctrinaires;  member  of  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  1815;  of  the  French  Academy;  protested  against  the  arbi- 
trary measures  of  Charles  X. ;  died  September,  1845.J 


470  RUDOLF  OF  HAPSBURG. 

France  is  Left-Centre  (La  France  est  Centre-gauche). 

In  the  old  division  of  the  French  Chamber,  the  governmental 
party  occupied  the  right  of  the  House  from  the  tribune,  the 
opposition  the  left :  at  the  present  time  conservatives  sit  on  the 
president's  right  hand,  the  radicals  on  the  left.  The  centre  is 
taken  by  the  moderates;  those  tending  to  conservatism  being 
called  the  Right-Centre,  the  more  liberal  half  the  Left-Centre. 
Royer-Collard's  mot  was  intended  to  indicate  that  the  French 
people  are  always  inclined  to  a  moderate  opposition  to  the 
government  of  the  day. 

So  much  the  worse  for  the  texts. 

The  expression,  "  So  much  the  worse  for  the  facts,"  is  attrib- 
uted to  Voltaire ;  but  Royer-Collard,  writing  against  the  opinions 
of  the  Jansenists  of  Port  Royal  on  Grace,  said,  "  The  texts  are 
on  their  side,  but  I  pity  the  texts  "  (Us  ont  les  textes  pour  eux, 
mais  fen  suis  f ache  pour  les  textes}. 

Respect  is  vanishing  in  France  (En  France  le  respect  s>en  va). 

"  The  reproach,"  says  Sainte-Beuve,  "  which  the  new  genera- 
ration  inspired  by  its  forgetfulness  of  the  sentiments  of  the  past 
age,  and  which  seemed  like  a  menace  of  the  future."  Royer- 
Collard's  last  words  were  :  "  There  is  nothing  solid  and  substan- 
tial in  this  world  but  religious  ideas." 

MUDOLF  I. 

[Rudolf  of  Hapsburg;  founder  of  the  House  of  Austria;  born  in 
Hapsburg,  in  what  is  now  the  Canton  of  Aargau,  Switzerland,  1218; 
succeeded  his  father  in  the  hereditary  possessions  of  the  family,  1240; 
elected  Holy  Roman  Emperor,  1273;  reformed  the  government  and 
restrained  the  nobles;  died  1291.] 

Rome  is  like  the  lion's  den  in  the  fable :  one  may  see 
the  footsteps  of  many  who  have  gone  there,  but  of 
none  who  have  come  back. 

To  the  archbishop  who  kissed  the  emperor's  bride  (his  second 
wife,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy)  as  she  was  alighting 
from  her  carriage,  Rudolf  said,  with  a  profane  pun,  "  Kiss  your 


EARL  RUSSELL.  471 


Agnus  Dei,  but  not  my  Agnes "  (Kiisse  lieber  deine  Agnus  Del 
als  meine  Agnes). 

At  his  coronation  he  seized  a  crucifix  for  want  of  a  sceptre, 
saying,  "  The  symbol  of  the  world's  redemption  is  as  good  as  a 
sceptre  "  (Das  Zeiclien  der  Wellerlosung  ist  so  gut  als  ein  Scepter}. 

When  his  attendants  would  have  kept  some  peasants  from 
approaching  him,  the  emperor  rebuked  them,  saying,  "I  was  not 
made  king  to  be  shut  up  from  mankind." 

EARL  RUSSELL. 

[Lord  John  Russell,  afterwards  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Earl  Rus- 
sell; a  distinguished  Whig  statesman;  born  in  London,  Aug.  18, 1792; 
entered  Parliament,  1813,  and  advocated  reform;  secretary  for  the 
home  department,  1835;  prime  minister,  1846;  secretary  for  foreign 
affairs,  1852  and  1859;  president  of  the  Council,  1854;  colonial  secre- 
tary, 1855;  prime  minister,  1865-66;  died  1878.] 

The  re-cant  of  patriotism. 

To  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  who  turned  from  Radical  to  Tory,  and 
sneered  at  the  "cant  of  patriotism,"  Lord  John  Russell  made 
reply,  "  I  quite  agree  with  the  honorable  baronet  that  the  cant 
of  patriotism  is  a  bad  thing ;  but  I  can  tell  him  a  worse,  —  the 
re-cant  of  patriotism." 

He  said  of  the  American  civil  war,  "  It  is  a  struggle  in  which 
the  North  is  striving  for  empire,  and  the  South  for  indepen- 
dence." Gladstone  said  of  Jefferson  Davis  during  the  war, 
"  He  has  made  an  army,  has  made  a  navy,  and,  more  than  that, 
has  made  a  nation." 

When  Mason  and  Slidell  were  taken  from  "  The  Trent,"  in 
1861,  Lord  Palmerston  asked  Earl  Russell  what  should  be  done. 
He  replied  in  the  words  of  G rattan,  in  reference  to  another 
power :  "  The  United-States  Government  are  very  dangerous 
people  to  run  away  from." 

Lord  John  Russell's  impromptu  definition  of  a  proverb  was 
very  happy  :  "  The  wisdom  of  many,  and  the  wit  of  one." 

Samuel  Rogers  relates  that  walking  one  day,  in  1838  or  1839, 
with  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  and  naming  the  antagonists  of 
Lord  John  Russell  in  the  House,  as  Peel,  Stanley,  Sir  James 
Graham,  etc.,  the  duke  replied,  "  Lord  John  is  a  host  in  him- 
self." 


472  SAINTE-BEUVE. 


Rest  and  be  thankful. 

In  replying  to  the  toast  of  her  Majesty's  ministers  at  Blair- 
gowrie,  Sept.  26,  1863,  Earl  Russell  referred  to  the  Scotchman 
who,  after  having  made  a  road  in  the  Highlands,  put  a  stone  on 
the  top  of  the  mountain  with  an  inscription,  "  Rest  and  be  thank- 
ful ;  "  and  said,  "  That  seems  to  be  very  much  like  our  feeling; 
not  that  there  are  not  other  roads  to  make,  and  other  mountains 
to  climb.  Bat  it  seems  to  be  the  feeling  of  the  country,  in  which 
I  cannot  help  joining,  that  our  policy  is  rather  to  '  rest  and  be 
thankful,'  than  to  make  new  roads."  —  JENNINGS  :  Anecdotal  His- 
tory of  Parliament. 

SAINTE-BEUVE. 

[Charles  Augustin  Sainte-Beuve,  an  eminent  French  critic;  born 
at  Boulogne,  Dec.  23,  1804;  studied  and  practised  medicine  for  some 
years  in  Paris;  wrote  a  "  History  of  Port  Royal,"  1840-G2;  contrib- 
uted "  Causeries  du  Lundi"  to  the  "  Constitutionnel  "  from  1851  to 
1857;  member  of  the  Academy,  and  senator;  died  October,  1869.] 

It  is  quite  sufficient  to  run  the  risk  of  my  life,  without 
the  chance  of  catching  cold  into  the  bargain. 

When  his  holding  an  umbrella  over  his  head  while  fighting  a 
duel  on  a  rainy  day  was  objected  to.  Victor  Hugo,  in  his  de- 
scription of  the  coup  d'etat  ("  Histoire  d'un  Crime  "),  says  that 
Jules  Favre,  who  was  in  danger  of  arrest  by  the  agents  of  the 
prince-president,  tied  a  handkerchief  round  his  neck  while  he  and 
other  deputies  were  going  to  a  place  of  safety,  early  on  the  morn- 
ing of  Dec.  2, 1851 ;  saying,  "  I  am  willing  to  be  shot,  but  I  object 
to  catching  cold  "  (Je  veux  bien  etre  fusille',  mais  je  ne  veux  pas 
m'enrhumer^). 

Sainte-Beuve  said  in  a  letter  to  M.  Duruy,  minister  of  public 
instruction,  Dec.  9,  1865,  "  If  I  had  a  device,  it  would  be  the 
True,  the  True  only,  leaving  the  Beautiful  and  the  Good  to  settle 
matters  afterwards  as  best  they  could." 

When  the  poet  Longfellow  was  in  Paris,  he  asked  Sainte- 
Beuve's  opinion  of  the  comparative  merits  of  Lamartine  and 
Victor  Hugo  :  "  Charlatan  pour  charlatan,"  replied  the  critic,  "  I 
prefer  Lamartine." 


ST.-JUST.  473 


ANTOINE  ST.-JUST. 

[One  of  the  prominent  characters  of  the  French  Revolution;  born 
1767  or  1768;  member  of  the  National  Convention,  of  which  he  was 
president,  1794;  member  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety;  the 
friend  of  Robespierre,  with  whom  he  was  executed,  July,  1794.] 

Happiness  is  a  new  idea  in  Europe  (Le  bonheur  est  une  idee 
neuve  en  Europe). 

The  history  of  ante-revolutionary  times  —  even  Taine's  "  An- 
cien  Re'gime,"  bitterly  opposed,  as  the  author  is,  to  the  Revolu- 
tion —  will  convince  one  that  happiness,  as  an  element  of  popular 
life,  was  unknown  ;  but  the  means  which  men  like  St. -Just  em- 
ployed to  introduce  it  were  at  least  singular.  Thus  he  said, 
"  The  Revolution  is  like  a  thunderbolt :  it  must  strike  ' '  (La 
revolution  est  comme  un  coup  de  foudre ;  il  faut  f rapper) ;  and  again, 
in  1794,  "  The  foundation  of  all  great  institutions  is  terror." 

One  is  disposed  to  doubt  the  sincerity  of  a  man  who  governs 
his  actions  by  maxims.  Collot  d'Herbois  called  St.-Just  "a 
well-combed  monster,  who  reels  off  apothegms  "  (un  monstre  bien 
peigne',  et  qui  debite  des  apothegmes) ;  which  Taine  enlarged :  "  A 
young  monster,  with  calm,  handsome  features ;  a  sort  of  preco- 
cious Sulla."  —  French  Revolution.  Carlyle  calls  him  "more  a 
student  than  a  senator ;  not  four  and  twenty  yet ;  who  has  writ- 
ten books ;  a  youth  with  slight  stature,  with  mild,  mellow  voice, 
enthusiast  olive  complexion,  and  long  black  hair." — French 
Revolution,  II.  3,  7. 

It  is  impossible  to  reign  innocently. 

He  began  his  speech  on  the  sentence  of  Louis  XVI.,  by  laying 
down  the  principle,  On  ne  peut  regner  innocemment :  from  that 
his  conclusion  was  easy,  "Louis  is  another  Catiline."  When 
his  apothegms  were  not  startling,  they  were  commonplace  ;  as 
when  he  said,  in  1792,  "  The  clemency  which  compounds  with 
tyranny  is  the  worst  kind  of  oppression." 

The  letter  which  St.-Just  wrote  to  Daubigny,  July  2,  1792, 
quoted  by  Taine  ("  French  Revolution,"  II.  4,  12,  note),  con- 
tains some  of  his  boldest  expressions.  He  had  been,  so  far,  a 
spectator  of  the  Revolution,  the  leaders  of  which  had  not  gained 
his  respect.  He  accordingly  said  to  them,  "  Tear  the  heart  out 


474  SAINT-SIMON. 


of  my  body,  and  eat  it,  and  you  will  become  what  you  are  not 
now,  —  great !  "  (Arrachez  mon  cceur,  et  manyez-le,  vous  deviendrez 
ce  que  vous  n'etes  point,  — grands  /)  He  described  himself  in  this 
letter  as  "  devoured  by  a  republican  fever ; "  he  considered  him- 
self above  misfortune  (Je  suis  au-dessus  du  malheur)  ;  and,  mix- 
ing his  metaphors,  although  he  felt  that  within  him  which 
would  float  on  the  crest  of  the  age,  his  palm  would  rise  and  per- 
haps overshadow  them  (Je  me  sens  de  quoi  surnayer  dans  le  siecle, 
ma  palme  s'elevera  pourlant,  et  vous  obscurcira  peut-etre).  He  closed 
with  the  cry  of  a  mal  compris  statesman  of  twenty-four  years  : 
"  Must  Brutus  languish  forgotten  and  far  from  Rome  !  My 
mind  is  made  up  :  if  Brutus  slay  not  the  others,  he  M  111  kill 
himself."  (0  Dieu,  peut-il  que  Brutus  languisse  oublie  loin  de 
Rome  !  Mon  parti  est  pris  cependant;  si  Brutus  ne  tue  point  les 
autres,  il  se  tuera  lui-meme.) 

He  uttered  one  truth,  how-ever,  to  Robespierre,  who  gave 
way  to  passion  in  a  session  of  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety : 
"  Power  belongs  to  the  self-possessed  "  (L 'empire  est  au  phlegma- 
tique)  ;  or,  as  Emerson  translates  it,  "  Keep  cool,  and  you  com- 
mand everybody." 

SAINT-SIMON. 

[Count  Claude  Henri  de  Saint-Simon,  a  French  socialist;  born  in 
Paris,  October,  1760;  served  in  the  American  war;  qualified  himself 
by  study  to  become  a  social  reformer,  and  published  several  works 
ou  that  subject;  died  1825.] 

In  order  to  do  great  things,  one  must  be  enthusiastic. 

On  his  death-bed.  "  Nothing  great,"  says  Emerson,  "  was  ever 
achieved  without  enthusiasm."  —  Essay  on  Circles. 

Goethe,  however,  speaks  of  "  empirical  enthusiasts,  who  seize 
upon  new  ideas  with  ecstasy,  as  if,  for  the  moment,  nothing  could 
be  compared  to  them." 

MARSHAL  SAXE. 

[Herman  Maurice,  Comte  de  Saxe,  a  famous  general;  son  of  Augus- 
tus, Elector  of  Saxony;  born  Oct.  28,  lt>96;  entered  the  French  ser- 
vice, 1720;  Marshal  of  France,  1744;  gained  the  victory  of  Fontenoy, 
1745;  died  1750.] 


TAUL  SC AKRON.  475 


We  are  like  cloaks,  —  one  thinks  of  us  only  when  it 
rains. 

Saying  that  after  a  declaration  of  peace  soldiers  were  forgot- 
ten (Nous  sommes  comme  les  manteaux,  on  ne  pense  a  nous  que 
quand  on  voit  cenir  la  pluie). 

He  replied  to  the  offer  of  a  seat  in  the  French  Academy,  "  It 
would  become  me  as  a  ring  would  a  cat :  I  do  not  know  how  to 
spell,"  which  will  be  evident  when  his  exact  words  are  quoted : 
"  Us  veule  me  fere  tie  la  Cademie,  cela  miret  come  une  bage  a  un 
chas"  (Us  veulent  me  fair e  de  I' Academic,  cela  m'irait  comme  une 
bague  a  un  chat}.  He  was  told  that  Marshal  Villars  was  a 
member,  in  spite  of  not  knowing  how  to  read,  to  say  nothing 
of  writing. 

PAUL  SCARRON. 

[A  French  dramatist  and  cqmic  writer;  born  in  Paris,  about  1610; 
having  lost  the  use  of  his  linibs  by  an  accident  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven,  devoted  himself  to  literature;  died  1GGO.] 

The  names  of  the  wives  of  kings  die  with  them,  but 
the  name  of  Scarron's  wife  shall  live  forever. 

When  the  notary  asked  him  what  dowry  he  would  give  his 
wife,  Mile.  d'Aubignc,  afterwards  Mine,  de  Maintenon. 

Being  seized,  during  his  last  illness,  with  so  violent  a  hic- 
cough that  it  was  thought  he  would  die,  he  said,  "  If  I  "recover, 
I  will  write  a  fine  satire  on  the  hiccough  !  "  (Si  je  nien  reviens, 
oh,  la  lelle  satire  que  je  ferai  contre  le  hoquet  /)  His  death  was 
worthy  the  gayety  with  which  he  had  supported  a  life  of  un- 
remitted  physical  suffering.  "  My  good  friends,"  he  remarked 
to  those  at  his  bedside,  "  I  shall  never  make  you  weep  for  me  as 
much  as  I  have  made  you  laugh."  After  a  long  fainting-fit  he 
rallied  sufficiently  to  bequeath  fifty  pounds  of  patience  to  the 
brothers  of  Corneille,  and  to  his  wife  the  permission  to  marry 
again,  of  which  she  profitably  availed  herself  twenty-four  years 
afterwards.  His  last  words  were,  "  I  should  never  have  thought 
it  was  so  easy  a  matter  to  laugh  at  the  approach  of  death  "  (Je 
ne  me  serais  jamais  imagine  qu'il  fut  si  facile  de  se  moquer  de  la 
morC) . 


476  SCHLEIERMACHER. 


SCHLEIERMA  CHER. 

[Friedrich  Ernst  Schleiermacher,  a  distinguished  German  theo- 
logian and  preacher;  born  at  Breslau,  Nov.  21,  1768;  educated  at 
Halle;  professor  of  theology  there  and  at  Berlin;  died  February, 
1834.] 

Bekker  is  silent  in  seven  languages  (Bekker  schweigt  in 
sieben  Sprachen). 

Said  of  the  philologist  Emmanuel  Bekker,  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Berlin,  a  scholar  whose  modesty  equalled 
his  learning. 

SCIPIO  AFRICANUS. 

[Publius  Cornelius  Scipio  Africanus  Major,  a  Roman  general ; 
born  235  or  234  B.C.;  gained  great  victories  over  Hasdrubal  in  Spain; 
invaded  Africa,  204;  defeated  Hannibal  at  Zama,  202,  and  Antiochus 
in  Syria;  tried  for  receiving  bribes,  and,  although  acquitted,  left 
Rome,  and  died  at  Liternum,  183  B.C.] 

I  am  never  less  alone  than  when  alone,  nor  less  at 
leisure  than  when  at  leisure. 

Quoted  from  Scipio  by  Cato,  and  recorded  by  Cicero  ("  De 
Officiis,"  III.  1),  "Nunquam  se  minus  otiosum  esse,  quam  quum 
otiosus,  nee  minus  solum,  quam  quum  solus  esset."  Repeated  by 
many  authors  since,  as  by  Gibbon,  "  I  was  never  less  alone  than 
when  "by  myself."  —  Memoir,  117.  Seneca  says,  in  his  Sixth 
Epistle,  "  I  am  never  more  in  action  than  when  I  am  alone  in 
my  study." 

"  Never  less  alone  than  when  alone." 

ROGERS:  Human  Life. 

"  In  solitude  where  we  are  least  alone." 

BYRON:  Childe  Harold,  III.  90. 

"  There  is  society,  where  none  intrudes, 

By  the  deep  sea." 

Ibid.,  IV.  178. 

"  They  are  never  alone  that  are  accompanied  with  noble  thoughts." 

SIDNEY'S  Arcadia,  Book  I. 

"  Little  do  men  perceive,"  says  Bacon,  "  what  solitude  is,  and 
how  far  it  extendeth  ;  for  a  crowd  is  not  company,  and  faces 


SIR  WALTER  SCOTT.  477 

are  but  a  gallery  of  pictures,  and  talk  but  a  tinkling  cymbal, 
where  there  is  no  love."  —  Essays,  Friendship. 

After  leaving  Rome  in  disgust  that  his  probity  should  have 
been  brought  into  question  (v.  Mirabeau,  p.  392),  Scipio  ordered 
the  following  words  to  be  placed  upon  his  tomb  in  Campania : 
"  In  grata  patria,  ne  ossa  quidem  habebis  ! '  (Thankless  country, 
thou  shalt  not  possess  even  my  bones !  ) 

SIR   WALTER  SCOTT. 

[Born  in  Edinburgh,  Aug.  15,  1771;  educated  at  the  University; 
wrote  "The  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel,"  1805;  "Marmion,"  1806; 
"  Lady  of  the  Lake,"  1810;  "  Waverley,"  1814,  and  other  poems  and 
romances  to  1831;  received  the  rank  of  baronet,  1820;  died  Sept.  21, 
1832.] 

Without  courage  there  cannot  be  truth,  and  without 
truth  there  can  be  no  other  virtue. 

Campbell  [the  poet]  is  afraid  of  the  shadow  that  his 
own  fame  casts  before  him. 

As  for  bidding  me  not  work,  Molly  might  as  well 
put  the  kettle  on  the  fire,  and  say,  "Now,  don't 
boil !  " 

Depend  upon  it,  of  all  vices,  drinking  is  the  most 
incompatible  with  greatness. 

We  wear  out  our  teeth  in  the  hard  drudgery  of  the 
outset,  and  at  length,  when  we  do  get  bread  to 
eat,  we  complain  that  the  crust  is  hard ;  so  that  in 
neither  case  are  we  satisfied. 

When  our  Saviour  himself  was  to  be  led  into  tempta- 
tion, the  first  thing  the  Devil  thought  of  was  to  get 
him  into  the  wilderness. 

To  Ballantyne,  the  printer  and  journalist,  who  thought  of 
leaving  Edinburgh  to  reside  in  the  country. 

MARSHAL  SEBASTIANI. 

[Count  Horace  Fra^ois  Sebastian!,  a  French  general;  born  in 
Corsica,  about  1775;  served  in  Italy,  Austria,  Spain,  and  Russia; 
minister  of  marine  and  of  foreign  affairs  under  Louis  Philippe;  am- 
bassador to  London,  1S35;  Marshal  of  France,  1840;  died  1851.] 


478  JOHN  SELDEN. 


Order  reigns  in  Warsaw. 

The  Polish  rebellion  of  1830  occurred  simultaneously  with  the 
fall  of  the  Bourbon  dynasty  in  France,  and  the  elevation  to  the 
throne  of  the  representative  of  liberal  ideas.  After  the  insur- 
rection of  Warsaw  —  which  broke  out  Nov.  29,  1830  —  was  sub- 
dued, Poland  looked  to  France  for  support,  and  the  National 
Guard,  the  press,  and  the  people  demanded  that  prompt  assist- 
ance be  given  her  ;  but  the  government  of  Louis  Philippe  re- 
mained deaf  to  all  appeals.  Poland  fell,  and  the  government 
became  more  unpopular  than  ever  when  Sebastian!,  minister 
of  foreign  affairs,  announced  in  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  Sept. 
16,  1831,  the  termination  of  the  struggle,  with  the  words,  "  My 
letters  from  Poland  announce  that  order  reigns  in  Warsaw  ' 
(Des  lettres  que  je  refois  de  Pologne  m'annoncent  que  la  tranquillite 
regne  a  Varsovie).  It  was  the  "order"  of  Pere  la  Chaise. 

"  He  makes  a  solitude,  and  calls  it  — peace." 

BYKON:  Bride  of  Abydos,  II.  20. 

Some  one  asked  Talleyrand  if  Sebastiani  were  not  a  relative 
of  Napoleon  :  "  Yes,  while  he  was  emperor,"  was  the  reply  : 
"not  now." 

JOHN  SELDEN. 

[An  English  lawyer  and  statesman;  born  in  Sussex,  Dec.  16, 1584; 
educated  at  Oxford;  said  by  Clarendon  to  have  been  of  stupendous 
learning  in  all  kinds  and  in  all  languages;  entered  Parliament,  1623; 
resisted  the  arbitrary  measures  of  Charles  I.;  was  imprisoned  until 
1634;  belonged  to  the  moderate  party  in  the  Re  volution;  died  Novem- 
ber, 1654.] 

Do   not  undervalue   the   enemy  by  whom  you  have 
been  worsted. 

This  and  the  following  are  from  Selden's  "  Table-Talk :  "  — 

Wise  men  say  nothing  in  dangerous  times.  — War. 

Never  tell  your  resolution  beforehand.  — Wisdom. 

He  that  will  keep  a  monkey,  'tis  fit  he  should  pay  for  the 
glasses  he  breaks.  —  Wife. 

Wit  and  wisdom  differ  :  wit  is  upon  the  sudden  turn,  wisdom 
is  in  bringing  about  ends.  — Wit.  And  he  said  again,  "Nature 
must  be  the  groundwork  of  wit  and  art." 


JOHN  SELDEN.  479 


Women  ought  not  to  know  their  own  wit,  because  they  will 
still  be  showing  it,  and  so  spoiling  it.  —  Wit. 

Xo  man  is  the  wiser  for  his  learning.  It  may  administer  mat- 
ter to  work  in,  or  objects  to  work  upon ;  but  wit  and  wisdom  are 
born  with  a  man.  —  Ibid. 

"  Knowledge  comes,  but  wisdom  lingers." 

TENNYSON:  Locksley  Hall. 

Most  men's  learning  is  nothing  but  history  duly  taken  up.  — 
Ibid. 

Few  men  make  themselves  masters  of  things  they  write  or 
speak.  —  Ibid. 

Colonel  Goring,  serving  first  the  one  side  and  then  the  other, 
did  like  a  good  miller,  that  knows  how  to  grind,  which  way 
soever  the  wind  blows.  —  Changing  Sides.  (The  Rev.  Symon 
Symonds,  vicar  of  Bray  in  Berkshire,  is  said  to  have  been  twice 
a  Papist  and  twice  a  Protestant  in  the  four  successive  reigns  of 
Henry  VIII. ,  Edward  VI.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth.  Being  called 
a  turncoat,  he  replied,  "  I  keep  to  my  principle,  that  of  living 
and  dying  the  vicar  of  Bray."  The  modern  song  relates  to  the 
political  changes  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.) 

Equity  is  a  roguish  thing,  for  law  we  have  a  measure.  —  Equity. 

Equity  is  according  to  the  conscience  of  him  that  is  chancel- 
lor ;  and  as  that  is  larger  or  narrower,  so  is  equity.  'Tis  all  one 
as  if  they  should  make  the  standard  for  the  measure  we  call  a 
foot  a  chancellor's  foot.  —  Ibid. 

An  epitaph  must  be  made  to  fit  for  the  person  for  whom  it 
is  made :  for  a  man  to  say  all  the  excellent  things  that  can  be 
said  upon  one,  and  call  that  an  epitaph,  is  as  if  a  painter  should 
make  the  handsomest  piece  he  can  possibly  make,  and  say,  'Tis 
my  picture.  — Epitaphs. 

A  gallant  man  is  above  evil  speaking. — Evil  Speaking. 

Old  friends  are  best.  King  James  used  to  call  for  his  old 
shoes,  for  they  were  easiest  for  his  feet.  —  Friends. 

Humility  is  a  virtue  all  preach,  none  practise.  —  Humility. 
(Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says,  "Humility  is  the  greatest  of  all 
virtues  —  for  other  people.") 

'Tis  not  the  eating,  nor  'tis  not  the  drinking,  that  is  to  be 
blamed,  but  the  excess.  —  Ibid. 


480  JOHN  SELDEN. 


There  is  no  church  without  a  liturgy ;  nor,  indeed,  can  there 
be  conveniently,  as  there  is  no  school  without  a  grammar.  — Lit- 
urgy. 

Of  all  actions  of  a  man's  life,  his  marriage  does  least  concern 
other  people  ;  yet,  of  all  actions  of  our  life,  'tis  most  meddled 
with  by  other  people. — Marriage. 

Marriage  is  a  desperate  thing  :  the  frogs  in  ^Esop  were  ex- 
treme wise ;  they  had  a  great  mind  to  some  water,  but  they 
would  not  leap  into  the  well,  because  they  could  not  get  out 
again.  —  Ibid. 

Money  makes  a  man  laugh.  — Money. 

'Tis  a  vain  thing  to  talk  of  a  heretic ;  for  a  man  for  his  heart 
can  think  no  otherwise  than  he  does  think.  —  Opinion.  (Thus 
Goethe  says,  "  Every  man  must  think  after  his  own  fashion,  for 
he  finds  always  in  his  path  some  truth  which  helps  him  on  his 
way ;  "  and  again,  "  Let  me  know  my  relations  to  myself  and 
the  world  at  large  :  that  is  truth.") 

Opinion  is  something  wherein  I  go  about  to  give  reasons 
why  all  the  W7orld  should  think  as  I  think.  Affection  is  a  thing 
wherein  I  look  after  the  pleasing  of  myself.  —  Ibid.  (Of  this 
Coleridge  says  that  it  is  the  true  difference  between  the  beauti- 
ful and  the  agreeable.) 

Patience  is  the  chiefest  fruit  of  study.  —  Patience. 

They  that  govern  most  make  least  noise.  —  Power. 

Syllables  govern  the  world.  —  Ibid. 

Never  king  dropped  out  of  the  clouds.  —  Ibid. 

There  is  no  stretching  of  power.  'Tis  a  good  rule  :  Eat  within 
your  stomach,  act  within  your  commission.  —  Ibid. 

General  texts  prove  nothing.  —  Prayer. 

King  James  said  to  the  fly,  "  Have  I  three  kingdoms,  and  thou 
must  needs  fly  into  my  eye  ?  "  —  Religion. 

Every  man  has  his  religion.  We  differ  about  trimming.  — 
Ibid.  And  again,  "  Alteration  of  religion  is  dangerous,  because 
we  know  not  where  it  will  stay." 

The  way  to  find  out  truth  is  by  others'  mistakings.  —  Truth. 

Transubstantiation  is  nothing  but  rhetoric  turned  into  logic. 
—  Transitbstantiation. 

Philosophy  is  nothing  but  discretion.  —  Philosophy. 

Pleasure  is  nothing  but  the  intermission  of  pain,  the  enjoying 


JOHN  SELDEX.  481 


of  something  T  am  in  great  trouble  for  till  I  have  it.  — Pleasure. 
(Derived  from  the  theories  of  Plato  and  Aristippus,  that  pleasure 
is  nothing  in  itself,  but  only  a  momentary  escape  from  pain,  or 
a  passage  from  one  pain  to  another.  "  The  present,"  said  Dr. 
Johnson,  "is  never  a  happy  state  to  any  human  being."  -  BOS- 
WELL  :  Life,  1775.) 

>Yords  must  be  fitted  to  a  man's  mouth.  Twas  well  said  of 
the  fellow  who  was  to  make  a  speech  for  my  lord  mayor,  he 
desired  to  take  the  measure  of  his  lordship's  mouth.  —  Language. 

Put  out  the  candle,  and  they  [light  and  heat]  are  both  gone  ; 
one  remains  not  without  the  other :  so  'tis  betwixt  faith  and 
works. — Faith  and  Works. 

Ignorance  of  the  law  excuses  no  man :  not  that  all  men  know 
the  law,  but  because  'tis  an  excuse  every  one  will  plead,  and  no 
man  can  tell  how  to  refute  him.  — Law. 

Verse  proves  nothing  but  the  quantity  of  syllables,  they  are 
not  meant  for  logic.  — Poetry.  (Coleridge  replies,  "True,  they 
are  not  logic ;  but  they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  the  envoys  and  rep- 
resentatives of  that  vital  passion  which  is  the  practical  cement 
of  logic,  and  without  which  logic  must  remain  inert.") 

Men  are  not  troubled  to  hear  a  man  dispraised,  because  they 
know,  though  he  be  nought,  there's  worth  in  others.  But 
women  are  mightily  troubled  to  hear  any  of  them  spoken 
against,  as  if  the  sex  itself  were  guilty  of  some  monstrosities. 

Idolatry  is  in  a  man's  own  thought,  not  in  the  opinion  of 
another.  —  Idolatry. 

Commonly  we  say  a  judgment  falls  upon  a  man  for  something 
in  him  we  cannot  abide.  — Judgments. 

Straws  show  which  way  the  wind  blows. 

"Though  some  make  light  of  libels,"  said  Selden,  "yet  you 
may  see  by  them  how  the  wind  sits :  as,  take  a  straw,  and  throw 
it  up  into  the  air,  you  shall  see  by  that  which  way  the  wind  is, 
which  you  shall  not  do  by  casting  up  a  stone.  More  solid  things 
do  not  show  the  complexion  of  the  time  so  well  as  ballads  and 
libels." — Ibid.,  Libels.  Andrew  Fletcher  of  Saltoun  wrote  to 
the  Marquis  of  Montrose,  Earl  of  Rothes,  etc. :  "  I  knew  a  very 
wise  man  that  believed,  that,  if  a  man  were  permitted  to  make 
all  the  ballads,  he  need  not  care  who  should  make  the  laws,  of  a 


482  GEOEGE   SELWYX. 


nation."     Fletcher  was  a  contemporary  of  Selden,  and  may  have 
referred  to  him. 

Above  all  things— Liberty. 

The  motto  which  was  placed  upon  his  books. 

The  Master  of  the  Temple  said  over  the  grave  of  Selden  in  the 
Temple  Church,  London,  "  If  learning  could  have  kept  a  man 
alive,  our  brother  had  not  died." 

GEORGE  SELWYN. 

[An  English  gentleman;  born  1719;  held  several  sinecure  offices, 
and  was  called  "the  receiver-general  of  wit  and  stray  jokes;"  a 
silent  member  of  Parliament  for  many  years,  died  1791.] 

Sir  Joshua  is  the  ablest  man  I  know  on  a  canvas. 

When  told  that  Reynolds  intended  to  stand  for  Parliament. 

*/ 

Horace  Walpole  was  one  day  complaining  that  the  same  inde- 
cision, irresolution,  and  want  of  system,  existed  in  the  reign  of 
George  III.,  as  in  that  of  Queen  Anne;  and  remarked,  of  the 
continuance  of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  as  first  lord  of  the  treas- 
ury after  the  accession  of  "George  III.,  "There  is  nothing  new 
under  the  sun."  -"Nor  under  the  grandson,"  added  Selwyn, 
George  III.  being  the  grandson  of  George  II. 

When  Fox's  friends  were  discussing  a  subscription  they  had 
raised  for  him,  and  were  wondering  how  he  would  take  it,  "Take 
it?"  interrupted  Selwyn,  "why,  quarterly,  of  course!"  Lord 
Brougham,  speaking  of  the  salary  attached  to  a  new  judgeship, 
said  it  was  all  moonshine.  "Maybe,"  replied  Lord  Lyndhurst; 
"  but  I've  a  notion  that,  moonshine  or  not,  you  would  like  to  see 
the  first  quarter  of  it." 

George  III.  alluded  to  Selwyn  one  day  as  "that  rascal 
George;"  who  asked,  "What  does  that  mean?  ''  and  added,  "Oh, 
I  forgot:  it  is  one  of  the  hereditary  titles  of  the  Georges." 

The  Duke  of  Cumberland  asked  him  how  a  horse  he  had 
purchased  answered.  "  I  really  don't  know,"  coolly  replied 
Selwyn  to  the  royal  duke:  "I  have  never  asked  him  a  ques- 
tion." 

When  a  namesake  of  Fox  was  hanged  at  Tyburn,  the  orator 
asked  Selwyn,  who  was  generally  present  on  such  occasions,  if 


SENECA.  483 


lie  attended  the  execution  :  "  Xo.v  answered  the  latter,  "  I  make 
it  a  point  never  to  attend  rehearsals."  During-  the  trials  of 
Lords  Kilniarnock  and  Balmerino,  rebels  of  1745,  8<jl\vyn  saw 
Mrs.  Bethell,  who  had  a  "  hatchet  face,"  looking  intently  at 
them;  and,  alluding  to  the  custom  of  turning  the  edge  of  the 
axe  towards  prisoners  while  sentence  is  being  pronounced,  said, 
"  What  a  shame  it  is  to  turn  her  face  to  the  prisoners  before 
they  are  condemned !  " 

He  was  reproached  for  witnessing  the  execution  of  Lord 
Lovat,  who  lost  his  head  after  the  Jacobite  rebellion  ;  and  de- 
fended himself  by  saying,  "  I  am  going  to  make  amends  by 
seeing  it  sewn  on  again  at  the  undertaker's."  It  was  in  ref- 

o  o 

erence  to  this  passion  of  Selwyn's,  which  once  caused  him  in 
Paris  to  be  taken  for  an  executioner  on  a  vacation,  that  Lord 
Holland  said  on  his  death-bed,  "  If  Mr.  Selwyn  calls,  let  him 
in  :  if  I  am  alive  I  shall  be  very  glad  to  see  him,  and  if  I  am 
dead  he  will  be  very  glad  to  see  me." 

I  am  tired  of  seeing  low  life  above  stairs. 

Saying  he  was  going  to  see  the  new  farce,  "  High  Life  below 
Stairs." 

When  Bruce,  the  Abyssinian  traveller,  who  was  thought  to 
draw  heavily  on  the  credulity  of  his  hearers,  was  asked  at  a  din- 
ner-party what  musical  instruments  were  used  in  that  country, 
he  replied  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  "I  think  I  saw  one  lyre 
there."  —  "  Yes,"  remarked  Selwyn,  "  and  there  is  one  less  since 
he  left  the  country." 

SENECA. 

[Lucius  Annreus  Seneca,  a  Roman  philosopher  and  moralist;  born 
at  Corduba,  Spain,  about  5  B.C.;  educated  at  Rome;  appointed  tutor 
to  Nero,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  treatise  on  Clemency;  accused  of 
conspiracy  with  Piso ;  was  ordered  to  put  himself  to  death,  which  he 
did  by  opening  his  veins  in  the  bath,  A.D.  G5.J 

All  I  require  of  myself  is,  not  to  be  equal  to  the  best, 
but  only  to  be  better  than  the  bad. 

"  Beneath  the  good  how  far  —  but  far  above  the  great." 

GRAY  :  Progress  of  Poesy,  III.  3,  16. 


484  SEXECA. 


How  great  -would  be  the  peril  if  our  slaves  began  to 
number  us!  (Quantum periculiun  immineret,  si  servi  nostri  nos 
numerare  ccepissent!) 

If  the  slaves  discovered  how  many  they  were  in  comparison 
with  their  masters. 

It  is  for  young  men  to  gather  knowledge,  and  for  old 
men  to  use  it. 

To  Seneca  ;s  attributed  the  warning  to  Nero,  "  How  many 
men  soever  you  slay,  you  will  never  kill  your  successor." 
Caligula  said  of  Seneca's  style,  "  His  language  is  nothing  but 
sand  without  lime." 


An  absence  of  desires  is  the  greatest  wealth  (summce 
opes  inopia  cupididatum). 

Seneca,  in  his  29th  Epistle,  anticipates  Regnard,  a  French 
dramatist  (1655-1709),  who  says  in  the  "Joueur,"  IV.  13,  "To 
know  how  to  do  without  is  to  possess"  (C'est  posseder  les  biens  que 
saroir  s'en  passer).  Vigee,  a  less-known  poet,  brother  of  the 
painter  Mine.  Le  Brim,  follows  Regnard  closely :  "  I  am  rich  in 
wealth  I  know  how  to  do  without "  (Je  suis  riche  des  biens  dont  je 
sals  me  passer). 

Another  thought  of  this  heathen-Christian  runs  through  the 
centuries.  He  wrote  in  the  107th  Epistle,  "  Fate  leads  the  will- 
ing, and  drags  the  unwilling '"  (Ducunt  volentem  fata,  nolentem 
trul/ unt).  He  drew  it,  however,  from  the  fatalist  Plutarch  ("  Life 
of  Cainillus  ")  :  "  Destiny  leads  him  who  follows  it,  and  drags 
him  who  resists  it."  Montaigne  is  the  first  to  give  a  French 
version  :  II  [le  destin~\  meine  ceulx  qui  suyvent ,  cculx  qui  ne  le  suyvent 
pus,  il  les  entraisne  ("  Essays,"  II.  38).  Fenelon  found  the  same 
thought  in  the  maxim  of  "  The  Imitation  of  Christ,"  "  Homo pro- 
ponit,  sed  Deus  disponit "  (Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes) ;  and 
said  in  his  Epiphany  Sermon,  1685,  "  God  gives  to  human  pas- 
sions, even  when  they  seem  to  decide  every  thing,  only  what  they 
need  in  order  to  be  the  instruments  of  his  designs:  so,  while  man 
moves  himself,  God  leads  him"  (ainsi,  Vhomme  s'ayite,  mais  Dieu  le 
mene).  Balzac  (1594-1654)  says  in  his  "Christian  Socrates," 
"  God  is  the  poet,  men  are  but  the  actors.  The  great  dramas 
of  earth  were  written  in  heaven." 


MADAME  DE  SE'VIGNE.  485 

MADAME  DE  SEVIGNE. 

[Marie  de  Rabutin-Chantal;  born  in  Burgundy  about  1026;  married 
the  Marquis  de  Sevigne,  1044,  who  was  killed  in  a  duel,  16i>l;  refused 
all  subsequent  offers  of  marriage;  was  a  member  of  the  circle  of  the 
Hotel  de  Rambouillet,  and  celebrated  for  her  epistolary  powers ;  died 
1696.] 

Racine  will  go  out  of  fashion  like  coffee. 

"  How  is  it,"  asks  a  French  writer,  "that  this  judgment  became 
a  proverb?"  He  himself  answers  the  question,  by  telling  the 
following  interesting  history  of  a  literary  transformation.  Mine, 
de  Sevigne  wrote,  March  16,  1672:  "Racine  makes  comedies  for 
La  Champnesle  [a  celebrated  actress,  who  created  many  of  Ra- 
cine's roles,  and  to  whom  he  was  much  attached];  his  work  is 
not  for  posterity  .  .  .  vive  our  old  friend  Corneille  ! '  Four  years 
afterwards,  March  10,  1676,  she  wrote  to  her  daughter  :  "  So  you 
have  recovered  from  your  liking  for  coffee :  Mile,  de  Meri  has 
also  given  it  up.  After  such  a  double  disgrace,  can  its  fortune 
be  considered  secure  ?  '  For  eighty  years  these  two  expressions 
reposed  in  the  Correspondence  of  Mine,  de  Sevigne,  at  a  re- 
spectful distance  from  each  other,  each  in  its  place  and  neigh- 
borhood, until  Voltaire  brought  them  together,  and  altered  them 
at  the  same  time:  "Mme.  de  Sevigne  still  believes  that  Racine 
has  no  future  before  him  (n'zra  pas  loin)  ;  she  judges  of  him 
as  of  coffee,  of  which  she  said  that  people  would  soon  rid  them- 
selves" (qu'on  se  de'sabuserait  bientut). —  GERUZEZ  :  Essais  d'His- 
toire  Litteraire).  Finally  Voltaire  remarked,  in  a  letter  to  the 
Academy,  which  serves  as  a  preface  to  his  "  Irene :  "  "  We  have 
been  provoked  with  Mme.  de  Sevigne,  who  wrote  so  well,  and 
judged  so  badly.  .  .  .  We  revolted  against  that  miserable  party 
spirit,  against  that  blind  prejudice,  which  made  her  say,  'The 
fashion  of  liking  Racine  will  pass  away  like  that  of  coffee  "  (La 
mode  d' aimer  Racine passera  comme  la  mode  (hi  cafe}.  La  Ilarpe, 
the  celebrated  critic  and  dramatist  (1739-1803),  then  reduced  the 
mot  to  its  present  form  :  "Racine  passera  comme  le  cafe.1"  Not 
the  least  singular  part  of  the  history  is,  that  in  reality  Mme. 
de  Sevigne  praised  Racine  with  enthusiasm,  as  in  a  letter  dated 
Feb.  20,  1689,  and  that  to  her  we  owe  the  first  use  of  cafe  au 
lait.  —  Letters,  Jan.  29, 1690. 


48  G  MADAME  DE  SEVIGNE'. 

God  fights  on  the  side  of  the  heaviest  battalions. 

Mine,  de  Sevigne  wrote  to  her  daughter:  "La  fortune  est  ton- 
jours  pour  les  (jros  bataillons."  In  the  form  of  the  mot  first  given, 
it  is  attributed  by  Alison  to  Gen.  Moreau,  by  others  to  Na- 
poleon, and  by  Irving  ("Life  of  Washington")  to  Gen.  Charles 
Lee.  'It  is  quoted  as  an  on  dit  by  Voltaire,  in  a  letter  to  Iliche, 
Feb.  6,  1770.  It  is  also  found  in  a  French  epigram  :  — 

"  J'ai  toujours  vu  Dieu,  dans  la  guerre, 
Du  cote  des  gros  bataillons." 

And  again  :  "  Un  prince  veut  faire  la  guerre  en  croyant  que  Dicu 
est  toujours  pour  les  gros  balaillons."  When  Anne  of  Austria 
said  to  Marshal  de  la  Ferte  that  the  enemy  were  too  strong  that 
year*  but  they  themselves  had  God  and  justice  on  their  side ; 
"  Don't  be  too  sure,"  he  replied,  "fai  toujours  vu  Dieu  du  cote  des 
gros  bataillons." 

Gibbon  says,  "  The  winds  and  waves  are  always  on  the  side 
of  the  ablest  navigators."  —  Decline  and  Fall,  chap.  Ixviii.  When 
some  one  wrote  in  a  German  album,  during  the  Seven  Years' 
War  :  "  If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us  ?  '  Voltaire 
replied  underneath,  "The  big  Prussian  battalions." 

These  French  maxims  are  forms  of  the  proverb  that  "  God 
helps  them  that  help  themselves;"  which  is  found  in  Sir  Philip 
Sidney's  "  Discourse  Concerning  Government,"  chap.  ii.  ;  and 
which,  in  a  negative  form,  is  as  old  as  Sophocles :  "  Heaven  never 
helps  the  men  who  will  not  act." — Fragments.  Pliny  the  Elder 
made  use  of  it  as  he  undertook  the  observation  of  the  eruption  of 
Vesuvius,  August,  A.D.  79,  which  proved  fatal  to  him  :  "  Fortune 
favors  the  brave  "  (Fortes  fortuna  ad  juvat}.  Other  forms  of  the 
expression  in  Latin  are  found  in  Claudian,  Fors  juvat  audentes ; 
in  Ennius,  VI.  6,  quoted  by  Macrobius,  Fortibus  est  fortuna  viris 
data ;  in  Terence,  "  Phormio,"  I.  4,  as  it  was  used  by  Pliny.  It 
is  alluded  to  as  a  proverb  both  by  Cicero  and  Livy;  Virgil 
("^Eneid,"  x.  284)  has  it,  Audentes  fortuna  juvat ;  and  Ovid 
("Metamorphoses,"  x.  580),  Audentes  Deus  ipse  juvat. 

Schiller  employs  the  proverb  in  "William  Tell,"  I.  2,  where 
Gertrude  says  to  Stauffacher,  "  God  helps  the  brave !  "  {Dem 
muthigen  hilft  Gott  /)  The  last  part  of  the  line  of  Claudian,  — 

"  Fors  juvat  audentes,  Cei  sententia  vatis," 


MADAME   DE  SEVIGXE.  487 

refers  the  origin  of  the  maxim  to  Simonides,  the  Greek  lyric 
poet,  who  was  born  in  Ceos,  flourished  in  the  time  of  the  Per- 
sian invasion,  and  wrote  the  epitaph  of  the  Spartans  who  fell  at 
Thermopylae  (<>•  Leonidas,  p.  330).  To  Simonides  is  attributed 
the  remark,  that  he  ''never  felt  sorry  for  having  held  his 
tongue  ;  "  anticipating  Carlyle's  "  Silence  is  golden." 

The  poor  woman  cannot  so  close  up  her  ranks,  as  to 
fill  this  vacant  place. 

Of  Mine,  de  La  Fayette,  after  the  death  of  her  friend  the 
Due  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  author  of  the  "Maxims."  Apropos  of 
these  literary  celebrities,  Fournier  calls  attention  to  the  change 
of  meaning  a  mistake  of  punctuation  may  cause,  with  the  conse- 
quent perversion  of  a  well-established  mot.  Thus,  in  one  volume 
of  French  Ana,  we  find  :  "  '  Mine,  de  La  Fayette,'  said  M.  de  La 
Rochefoucauld,  '  has  given  me  wit,  but  I  have  reformed  her 
heart '  (Mme.  de  La  Fat/ette,  disoit  M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  m'a 
donne  de  Vesprit,  ma  is  fai  reforme  son  co2iir).  The  change  of  a 
comma  should  make  Mme.  de  La  Fayette  the  speaker :  '  Mine, 
de  La  Fayelte  disoit,  M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld  m'a  donne  de  Vesprit, 
maisfai  reforme  son  cceur."  '  — L' Esprit,  330,  note. 

Such  a  mistake  might  have  cost  the  Abbe  Sieyes  his  life.  He 
was  correcting,  during  the  Terror,  the  proof  of  a  panegyric,  in 
which  he  defended  his  political  career.  What  was  his  astonish- 
ment at  finding  himself  saying,  "I  have  abjured  (abjure')  the 
Republic,"  for,  "  I  have  adjured  (adjure')  the  Republic  "  !  "  Mis- 
erable man  !  "  he  exclaimed  to  the  printer,  "  do  you  wish  to  send 
me  to  the  guillotine  ?  " 

It  was  Mme.  de  La  Fayette  who  said,  "  If  I  had  a  lover  who 
wanted  to  hear  from  me  every  day,  I  would  break  with  him." 

I  should  like  Provence,  were  there  no  Provencaux. 

Of  a  country  more  interesting  than  its  inhabitants.  Horace 
Walpole  once  wrote  :  "  I  should  like  my  country  well  enough  if 
it  were  not  for  my  countrymen." 

The  value  of  all  pleasures  or  blessings  depends  upon 
the  state  of  our  mind  when  we  receive  them. 

Want  of  reason  offends  me :  want  of  faith  hurts  me. 


488  MADAME  DE  SEVIGXE'. 

The  "world  has  no  long  injustices. 

Saying  that  "it  is  necessary  to  be,  if  one  wishes  to  appear" 
(//  faut  etre,  si  Von  veut  paraitre.  Le  monde  ria,  pas  de  tongues 
injustices).  Dr.  Johnson  says,  "When  the  world  thinks  long 
about  a  matter,  it  generally  thinks  right."  It  was  Pope's  opin- 
ion that  "the  mass  of  mankind  are  generally  right  in  their  judg- 
ments." Socrates  said,  "  You  will  gain  a  good  reputation  if  you 
endeavor  to  be  what  you  desire  to  appear." 

Thicken  your  religion  a  little.  It  is  evaporating  alto- 
gether by  being  subtilized. 

To  a  friend  whose  religious  distinctions  she  thought  casu- 
istical. 

I  dislike  clocks  with  second-hands,  they  cut  up  life 
into  too  small  pieces  (elles  hachent  la  vie  trap  menu). 

I  fear  nothing  so  much  as  a  man  who  is  witty  all  day 
long  (Je  ne  crams  rien  qu'un  homme  qui  a  de  Vesprit  toute  la 
journee). 

The  heart  has  no  wrinkles. 

He  only  lacked  some  vices  to  be  perfect. 

Of  Charles  Louis  d'Orleans,  Due  de  Longueville,  nephew  of 
the  Great  Conde,  who  was  killed  at  the  passage  of  the  Rhine  in 
1672,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  when  the  Polish  deputies  were  on 
their  way  to  offer  him  the  crown  of  Poland.  By  "vices,"  she 
meant  pride,  vanity,  self-love,  etc.,  by  the  aid  of  which  men  often 
rise  higher  in  the  world  than  by  the  possession  of  many  amiable 
qualities. 

At  the  death  of  Monseigneur  de  Harlay,  the  worldly  Arch- 
bishop of  Paris,  Mme.  de  Sevigne  wittily  said,  "  There  are  only 
two  trifles  which  make  his  funeral  oration  difficult, — the  life 
and  death  of  the  subject  of  it"  (il  n'y  a  que  deux  bagatelles,  qui 
rendent  cette  oraison  difficile,  c'est  la  vie  et  la  mort  de  celui  qui  en  est 
le  sujef). 

Napoleon  said  of  the  "  Letters  "  of  Mme.  de  Sevigne,  "  You 
gain  nothing  by  reading  her.  It  is  like  eating  snowballs,  with 
which  one  can  surfeit. one's  self  without  satisfying  the  stomach." 


WILLIAM  H.   SEWARD.  489 

WILLIAM  HENRY  SEWARD. 

[An  American  statesman;  born  in  Orange  County,  N.Y.,  May  16, 
1801;  governor  of  the  State,  18,°>8-42;  United-States  senator,  184! Mil  5 
secretary  of  state,  18(51-6!);  wounded  by  one  of  the  conspirators  in  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln;  died  Oct.  10,  1872.] 

A  higher  law. 

In  a  speech  in  the  Senate,  March  11,  1850,  in  favor  of  the  ad- 
mission of  California  into  the  Union,  Mr.  Seward  said,  "  The 
Constitution  devotes  the  national  domain  to  union,  to  justice,  to 
defence,  to  welfare,  and  to  liberty.  But  there  is  a  higher  law 
than  the  Constitution,  which  regulates  our  authority  over  the 
domain,  and  devotes  it  to  the  same  noble  purposes." 

In  a  speech  at  Rochester,  N.Y.,  Oct.  25,  1858,  he  declared 
that  the  antagonism  between  freedom  and  slavery  "  is  an.  ir- 
repressible struggle  between  opposing  and  enduring  forces." 
These  expressions  became  party  watchwords,  which  now,  like 
some  originating  on  the  other  side,  have  but  an  historic  interest. 
Thus  Gov.  Manning  of  South  Carolina,  in  a  speech  at  Colum- 
bia in  that  State,  in  1858,  asserted  that  "Cotton  is  King;"  and 
Senator  Hammond,  of  the  same  State,  alluded  in  the  Senate  to 
the  mechanics  and  artisans  of  the  North  as  "  the  mud-sills  of  soci- 
ety." Senator  Sumner  devoted  one  of  his  great  oratorical  efforts 
in  the  same  body  to  "  the  Twin  Relics  of  Barbarism,  Slavery  and 
Polygamy." 

RICHARD  BRINSLEY  SHERIDAN. 

[An  Irish  orator  and  dramatist,  born  in  Dublin,  1751;  wrote  sev- 
eral plays,  including  "  The  School  for  Scandal,"  1777;  entered  Par- 
liament, 1780;  one  of  the  managers  of  the  impeachment  of  "Warren 
Hastings;  under-secretary  of  state,  of  the  navy,  and  privy  council- 
lor, 1806;  died  1816.] 

Give  them  a  corrupt  House  of  Lords. 

In  supporting  the  liberty  of  the  press  in  1810,  Sheridan  ex- 
claimed, "  Give  them  a  corrupt  House  of  Lords,  give  them  a 
venal  House  of  Commons,  give  them  a  tyrannical  prince,  give 
them  a  truckling  court,  and  let  me  have  but  an  unfettered  press, 
I  will  defy  them  to  encroach  a  hair's-breadth  upon  the  liberties 
of  England." 


490  RICHARD   BRINSLEY  SHERIDAN. 

Lord  Brougham  preferred  such  spirited  sentences  to  Sheri- 
dan's labored  denunciations  of  Xapoleon,  as  when  he  said  in  1803, 
"  The  destruction  of  this  country  is  the  first  vision  that  breaks 
on  the  French  Consul  through  the  gleam  of  the  morning ;  this 
is  his  last  prayer  at  night,  to  whatever  deity  he  may  address  it." 
And  again,  "  He  has  thrones  for  his  watch-towers,  kings  for  his 
sentinels,  and  for  the  palisades  of  his  castle  sceptres  stuck  with 


crowns." 


After  Mr.  Pitt  had  severely  criticised  the  speeches  which 
Sheridan  and  others  of  the  opposition  had  made  in  the  debate  011 
the  preliminary  articles  of  peace  with  the  United  States,  Febru- 
ary, 1783,  and  had  advised  Sheridan  to  confine  his  theatrical  "  ele- 
gancies "  to  their  proper  stage,  the  latter  said,  "  If  I  ever  again 
engage  in  the  compositions  he  alludes  to  [of  a  dramatic  charac- 
ter], I  may  be  tempted  to  an  act  of  presumption,  —  to  attempt 
an  improvement  on  one  of  Ben  Jonson's  best  characters,  the 
character  of  the  Angry  Boy  in  '  The  Alchemist.' ' 

When,  on  one  occasion,  Pitt  said  he  would  give  him  a  woman's 
privilege,  the  last  word,  Sheridan  replied,  "  I  have  no  wish  for 
the  last  word  :  I  am  content  with  having  the  last  argument." 

Mi.  Addington  [Lord  Sidmouth]  once  appeared  in  the  House 
dressed  in  the  Windsor  uniform.  Sheridan  alluded  to  him  as 
"  the  right  honorable  gentleman  who  has  appeared  this  evening 
in  the  character  of  a  sheep  in  wolf's  clothing." 

On  being  asked  how,  in  his  speech  on  the  impeachment  of 
Warren  Hastings,  June  14,  1788,  he  could  apply  the  epithet 
"luminous"  to  the  "Decline  and  Fall"  of  the  Tory  Gibbon, 
Sheridan  answered  in  a  half- whisper,  "I  said  vo-luminous. "  — 
MOORE  :  Life. 

It  was  proposed  at  one  time  to  tax  coals  instead  of  iron : 
Sheridan  objected  to  it,  that  "it  would  be  a  jump  from  the 
frying-pan  into  the  fire." 

He  repeated,  concerning  the  debt  of  England,  what  he  had 
heard  from  Sir  Arthur  Pigott :  "  Half  of  it  has  been  incurred  in 
putting  down  the  Bourbons,  and  the  other  half  in  setting  them 
up."  —  MOORE:  Life,  II.  218,  note.  A  memorandum  found 
among  his  papers  expressed  his  opinion  of  some  new  fashion : 
"I  like  it  no  better  for  coming  from  France,  whence  all  ills 
come,  altar  of  liberty  begrimed  at  once  with  blood  and  mire." 


RICHARD  BRINSLEY  SHERIDAN.  491 

He  employs  his  fancy  in  his  narrative,  and  keeps  his 
recollection  for  his  wit. 

The  publication  of  Moore's  "Life  of  Sheridan"  showed  that 
many  of  the  jeux  d'esprit  which  amused  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  were  thought  to  be  unpremeditated  effusions,  had  in  reality 
been  "set  in  a  note-book,  learn 'd  and  conn'd  by  rote."  He  had 
thus  put  down  for  future  use :  "  He  employs  his  fancy  in  his 
narrative,  and  keeps  his  recollections  for  his  wit."  This  was 
enlarged  into :  "  When  he  makes  his  jokes,  you  applaud  the  accu- 
racy of  his  memory,  and  'tis  only  when  he  states  his  facts  that 
you  admire  the  flights  of  his  imagination."  When  the  opportu- 
nity occurred,  he  introduced  it  in  the  House,  in  speaking  of  Mr. 
Dundas,  "  who  generally  resorts  to  his  memory  for  his  jokes,  and 
to  his  imagination  for  his  facts."  Of  Kelly,  who  became  a  wine- 
merchant  after  being  a  composer  of  music,  he  said,  "  You  will 
henceforth  import  your  music,  and  compose  your  wine." 

Sheridan  was  visiting  a  country-house,  when  an  elderly  unmar- 
ried lady  attempted  to  persuade  him  to  take  a  walk  with  her. 
At  first  he  excused  himself  on  account  of  the  weather ;  but  when 
she  asserted  that  it  had  cleared  away,  he  escaped  by  saying,  "  Yes, 
enough  for  one,  but  not  enough  for  two." — MOORE  :  Life,  II.  321. 

A  Mrs.  Cholmondeley  wished  him  to  make  an  acrostic  on  her 
name :  "  An  acrostic  on  your  name,"  he  replied,  "  would  be  a 
formidable  task :  it  must  be  so  long  that  I  think  it  should  be 
divided  into  cantos." 

He  said  of  a  proposed  tax  upon  mile-stones,  "  Such  a  tax 
would  be  unconstitutional,  as  they  are  a  race  that  could  not  meet 
to  remonstrate."  —  Life,  II.  320,  note. 

Oh,  no :  they  are  all  new  suits. 

When  asked  if  his  green  bag  contained  old  clothes. 

"  If  the  thought,"  he  once  said,  "  is  slow  to  come,  a  glass  of 
good  wine  encourages  it ;  and  when  it  does  come,  a  glass  of  good 
wine  rewards  it." 

Fox,  the  Brighton  manager,  who  practised  many  arts  badly, 
boasted  that  he  painted  his  scenery  himself ;  whereupon  Sheridan 
remarked,  "  Well,  I  should  not  have  known  you  were  a  Fox  by 
your  brush." 


492  ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

When  Lord  Lauderdale  said  he  should  repeat  a  certain  joke 
of  Sheridan's,  the  latter  discouraged  him  by  saying,  "  Pray  don't, 
my  dear  Lauderdale :  a  joke  in  your  mouth  is  no  laughing 
matter." 

Meeting  one  day  two  royal  dukes,  one  of  them  said  they  had 
been  discussing  whether  Sheridan  were  a  greater  fool  than  knave. 
Placing  himself  between  them,  the  wit  quickly  replied,  "  Why, 
faith,  I  believe  I'm  between  the  two." 

When  Brereton,  a  noted  gambler,  said  he  had  lost  his  wife, 
"  How  did  you  lose  her,"  asked  Sheridan,  "  at  hazard,  or  at 
quinze  ?  " 

His  son  said  that  if  he  were  in  Parliament  he  would  write 
on  his  forehead,  "  To  let."  —  "  Add  '  unfurnished?  "  suggested  his 
father. 

Being  asked  by  his  tailor  for  at  least  the  interest  of  his  bill, 
Sheridan  replied,  "  It  is  not  my  interest  to  pay  the  principal,  nor 
my  principle  to  pay  the  interest."  Rogers  said  of  him,  "In  all 
his  dealings  with  the  world,  Sheridan  certainly  carried  the  privi- 
leges of  genius  as  far  as  they  were  ever  carried  by  men."  Tal- 
leyrand had  even  a  shorter  method  with  creditors.  When  one 
of  them  asked  him  when  he  should  be  paid,  the  only  answer  he 
received  was,  "  Ma  foi,  how  inquisitive  you  are ! '"  (vous  etes  Itien 
curieux  /) 

To  any  one  who  has  reached  a  very  advanced  age,  a 
walk  through  the  streets  of  London  is  like  a  walk 
in  a  cemetery. 

Nothing  has  a  better  effect  upon  children  than  praise. 

When  literature  is  the  sole  business  of  life  it  becomes 
a  drudgery. 

ALGERNON  SIDNEY. 

[An  English  republican,  grand-nephew  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney;  born 
1622;  lieutenant-general  in  Ireland,  1646;  member  of  the  Council  of 
State,  1659;  acted  on  the  Continent  and  in  England  with  Eussell  and 
other  popular  leaders;  accused  of  complicity  in  the  Rye-House  plot, 
and  beheaded  after  a  inock  trial  conducted  by  Jeffreys,  December, 
1683.] 


SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY.  493 

The  best  legacy  I  can  leave  my  children  is  free  speech, 
and  the  example  of  using  it. 

In  his  last  speech  on  his  trial,  he  said  of  the  judge  by  whom 
he  was  tried,  and  whose  conduct  had  been,  as  usual,  grossly  un- 
fair, "Magistrates  are  made  for  the  good  of  nations,  not  nations 
for  the  benefit  of  kings." 

When  asked  by  the  executioner,  Dec.  7,  1683,  if  he  would  like 
to  rise  anain,  after  laving  his  head  on  the  block,  he  answered, 

O  v  O  ' 

"  Xot  till  the  general  resurrection  :  strike  on  !  " 

Two  Latin  mottoes  of  Sidney's  have  been  preserved :  "  Sanc- 
tus  amor  patrice  dat  animum"  (Sacred  love  of  country  inspires 
courage).  This  was  inscribed  on  his  banner  in  the  Civil  War. 
The  other  was  written  in  an  album  in  Copenhagen :  - 

"  Maims  hrec  inimica  tyrannis 
Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietem." 

The  last  line  is  the  motto  of  the  arms  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts.  The  whole  has  been  rendered  into  English 
by  the  accomplished  governor  of  the  State, --the  Hon.  John  D. 
Long : — 

"  Tliis  hand,  the  tyrant  smiting,  ne'er  will  sword  release, 
Till  liberty  assure  the  quietude  of  peace." 

SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY. 

[An  English  soldier  and  author;  born  in  Kent,  Nov.  20,  1554;  edu- 
cated at  Oxford;  sent  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Vienna  by  Queen 
Elizabeth;  and  as  governor  of  Flushing,  1585,  to  assist  the  Dutch 
against  Spain;  killed  at  Zutphen,  Sept.  22,  158(J.] 

Take  it,  thy  necessities  are  greater  than  mine. 

To  a  wounded  soldier  at  Zutphen,  who  looked  wistfully  at 
some  water  which  had  been  brought  with  difficulty  for  Sidney. 

tj  V  V 

He  said  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  of  the  state  of  Holland,  in  1576, 
"  The  spirit  that  animates  them  is  the  spirit  of  God,  —  and  is 
invincible."  • 

He  remarked  of  the  Scottish  ballads  of  "  Chevy  Chase,"  etc.,  "  I 
have  never  heard  the  old  story  of  Percy  and  Douglas,  that  I 
found  not  my  heart  moved  more  than  with  a  trumpet." 


494  SIEYES. 


SIEYES. 

[Emmanuel  Joseph  Sieyes,  commonly  called  the  Abbe  Sieves,  a 
French  politician  and  publicist;  born  at  Frejus,  May,  1748;  vicar- 
general  and  chancellor  of  Chartres;  member  of  the  States-General,  of 
the  National  Assembly,  of  the  Convention,  of  the  Council  of  Five 
Hundred;  ambassador  to  Berlin,  1798;  member  of  the  Directory; 
one  of  the  Three  Consuls;  lived  in  exile  from  1815  to  1830;  died  in 
Paris,  1836.] 

They  wish  to  be  free,  and  know  not  how  to  be  just. 
Of  the  abolition  of  tithes,  in  the  Constituent  Assemblv,  1790. 

f  * 

—  DUMOXT :  Recollections  of  Mirabeau.  Sieyes  regarded  this 
tax  (/a  dime}  as  the  most  onerous  of  those  attached  to  land. 
Instead,  however,  of  suppressing  seventy  million  livres  a  year, 
he  would  have  compelled  the  landed  proprietors  to  subscribe 
each  year  to  a  proportionate  amount  of  the  bonds  of  the  national 
debt.  The  Assembly,  notwithstanding,  repealed  the  tax  out- 
right. The  rejection  of  the  proposition  of  Sieyes  caused  him  to 
exclaim,  "  Us  veulent  etre  libres,  et  ne  savent  pas  etre  justes!r 
"  which  contains,"  says  Taine  ("  French  Revolution  "),  "  an  epit- 
ome of  revolutionary  legislation." 

When  the  abbe  complained  to  Mirabeau  of  being  coughed 
down  while  resisting  the  confiscation  of  church  property,  the 
latter  replied,  "  My  dear  abbe,  you  have  loosed  the  bull :  do  you 
expect  he  is  not  to  make  use  of  his  horns?" 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Sieyes  said  to  Talleyrand  and  Dumont, 
"Politics  is  a  science  which  I  have  mastered  ''  (La  politique  est 
une  science  que  fai  acheve'e).  Dumont,  who  records  the  remark, 
adds,  "  Had  he  ever  measured  the  outline,  or  formed  a  concep- 
tion of  the  extent  and  difficulty  of  a  complete  legislation,  he 
would  not  have  made  such  an  assertion." — Recollections  of  Mira- 
beau. 

La  mort  sans  phrase, 

The  vote  which  Sieyes  gave  in  favor  of  the  death  of  Louis 
XVI.  became  historic  in  the  form,  "  Death  without  phrases." 
He  denied  having  so  given  it,  but  said  that  it  was  La  mort  simply. 
It  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  many  deputies  justified  their 
votes  by  short  speeches  or  apothegms.  Accordingly,  when  it 


SIEYES.  495 


was  asked  ho\v  Sieyes  voted,  the  answer  was  natural,  "Death, 
without  phrases : "  without  a  comma,  it  became  La  mort  sans 
phrase. 

Another  explanation  is,  that  the  stenographer  of  the  Conven- 
tion, wishing-  to  call  attention  to  the  exceptionally  laconic  form 
of  the  abbe's  vote,  put  after  it  in  a  parenthesis,  "sans  phraxe." 
Sieyes  once  referred  to  the  official  statement  of  the  vote  in  the 
"Moniteur,"  Jan.  20,  1793,  where  it  was  thus  given:  "SYEYES,  la 
mort."  "It  was  a  forced  loan,"  says  Fournier,  "  but  not  at  all 
gratuitous,  for  his  reputation  paid  a  heavy  interest  upon  it." 
Thus  when  the  minister  of  the  king  of  Prussia  in  Paris  was 
requested  to  pay  some  attention  to  Sieyes,  who  was  going  as 
ambassador  to  Berlin,  he  replied,  "No,  and  sans  phrase." 

The  following  are  some  of  the  "phrases,"  or  explanations, 
offered  by  deputies  in  giving  their  vote  on  the  punishment  of 
Louis  XVI. :  - 

Albouys  :  "  Banishment :  let  this  living  spectre  go  out  to  stalk 
among  thrones!"  (Le  bannissement ,  que  ce  spectre  vivant  a'dle  errer 
autour  des  trones !) 

Bernardin  de  St.-Pierre :  "  The  blood  of  a  king  is  not  the 
blood  of  a  man"  (Le  sang  (Tun  roi  n'esl  pas  le  sang  d'un  homme). 

Bancal :  "Exile:  I  wish  to  see  the  first  king  in  the  world 
condemned  to  earn  his  living''  (L'exil :  je  veux  voir  le  premier  roi 
de  I'univers  condamne'  a  faire  un  metier  pour  yagner  sa  vie). 

Carnot :  "  Death ;  and  never  did  word  weigh  so  heavily  upon 
mv  heart ! " 

v 

Chaillon :  "I  will  not  commit  a  murder,  that  Rome  may  make 
a  saint"  (Je  ne  veux  pas  faire  un  mort,  dont  Rome  fera  un  saint). 

Gentil :  "  Seclusion  :  to  make  a  Charles  I.  is  to  make  a  Crom- 
well" (Faire  un  Charles  /.,  c'est  faire  un  Cromwell). 

Jean-Bon  St.-Andre  :  "  No  people  free  without  a  tyrant  dead  " 
(Pas  de  peuple  libre  sans  le  lyran  mort). 

Lavicomterie :  "  Death :  while  the  tyrant  breathes,  liberty 
stifles"  (Tant  que  le  tyran  respire,  la  liberte  etouffe). 

Paganel:  "  A  king  is  of  use  only  by  his  death"  (Un  roi  nest 
utile  que  par  sa  mort). 

Zangiacomi :  "Let  us  keep  Capet  alive  for  a  scarecrow"  (Gar- 
dons  Capet  vivant  comme  epouvantail). 

The  Due  d'Orleans  (Egalite),  first  prince  of  the  blood,  read  the 


496  SIEYES. 


following :  "  Solely  occupied  with  my  duty,  convinced  that  all 
who  have  attacked  or  shall  attack  hereafter  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people  merit  death,  I  vote  for  'death.''  Robespierre  said 
of  this  vote,  "  The  nation  would  have  been  more  magnanimous 
than  he." 

We  have  a  master. 

After  the  coup-de-main  of  the  18th  Brumaire,  1798,  by  which 
Bonaparte  overthrew  the  Directory,  Sieyes  was  believed  to  have 
remarked  to  Talleyrand  and  Roederer,  "  We  have  a  master  who 
knows  how  to  do  every  thing,  who  can  do  every  thing,  and  who 
will  do  every  thing  "  (Nous  aeons  un  mditre  qui  salt  tout  fair e,  qui 
pent  toutfaire,  et  qui  veut  tout  faire).  He  denied,  however,  saying 
it ;  which  Sainte-Beuve  regrets,  "  as  it  was  worthy  of  being  said." 
—  Causeries  du  Lundi,  Sieyes.  The  French  Ana  assign  to  Gen. 
Dugommier  the  remark  on  accompanying  young  Bonaparte  to 
the  Committee  on  the  War :  "  I  present  to  you  a  most  meritorious 
officer ;  he  will  succeed :  if  you  do  not  advance  him,  he  will  ad- 
vance himself:"  (il  ira  loin:  si  vous  ne  Vavancez  pas,  il  saura  Men 
s'avancer  de  lui-meme).  Others,  like  Lockhart,  attribute  the  re- 
mark to  Barms .  Bonaparte  said  of  himself  at  the  same  time, 
"Do  they  [the  Directory]  believe  that  I  stand  in  need  of  protec- 
tion to  make  my  way  ?  Sometime  all  of  them  will  be  glad  to 
receive  mine."  Sieyes  did  not  deny  answering  Bonaparte,  who 
urged  him  to  be  Second  Consul :  "  It  is  not  a  question  of  con- 
suls, and  I  do  not  care  to  be  }Tour  aide-de-camp."  At  the  end  of 
the  Directory,  when  he  felt  how  powerless  was  the  mere  man  of 
letters,  Sieyes  exclaimed,  "  What  I  want  is  a  sword  !  "  (II  me 
fa  ut  une  c'pc'e  .') 

One  of  his  favorite  maxims  was,  "  Confidence  should  arise 
from  beneath,  and  power  descend  from  above  "  (La  confiance  doit 
venir  d'en  bas,  et  Le  pouvoir  (Ten  haut). —  THIERS  :  Consulate  and 
Empire,  1799. 

I  existed. 

lie  denied,  by  replying  to  the  question  what  he  had  done 
during  the  Terror,  "J'ai  vccu "  (I  existed),  that  he  intended 
to  express  any  egoism  or  insensibility  to  the  dreadful  scenes 
through  which  he  passed  unharmed.  Mignet,  however,  consid- 


SIEYES.  497 


ered  it  merely  the  answer  to  the  most  difficult  problem  of  the 
times,  —  that  of  not  perishing.  —  Notices  Historiques,  I.  81.  When 
La  Fayette  was  asked  what  he  had  done  for  liberal  principles 
during  the  empire,  he  replied,  "I  stood  erect"  (Je  me  suis  lenu 
debout).  There  was  a  difference,  however,  in  the  situations. 

An  arriere-pensee. 

The  phrase  has  been  attributed  to  Sieyes,  because  it  har- 
monized so  perfectly  with  his  character.  "  It  was  already  to 
be  found,"  says  Fournier,  "in  a  very  truthful  line  of  a  play 
of  Destouches"  (1680-1754). 

"  Les  femmes  ont  toujours  quelque  arriere-pensee." 

Le  Dissipateur,  V.  9. 

A  nation  of  monkeys  with  the  throat  of  parrots 

In  a  note  addressed  to  Mirabeau,  Sieyes  called  the  French 
"une  nation  de  singes  a  larynx  de  parroquets.1"  This  is  not  more 
complimentary  than  Voltaire's  opinion  expressed  in  a  letter  to 
Mine,  du  Deffand,  Nov.  21,  1766:  "Your  nation  is  divided  into 
two  species  •.  the  one  of  idle  monkeys,  who  mock  at  every  thing ; 
and  the  other  of  tigers,  who  tear."  He  said  of  the  judges  in 
the  Galas  case,  "Don't  speak  to  me  of  those  judges,  half  apes 
and  half  tigers."  During  the  excesses  of  the  Paris  Commune,  in 
1871,  the  remark  was  heard,  "  A  Frenchman  is  half  monkey,  half 
tiger." 

AVhen  Dr.  Corvisart  regretted  the  death  of  a  friend  who  had 
been  attended  by  two  physicians  besides  himself,  Sieyes  asked, 
"  What  would  you  wish  that  he  did  against  three  ?  "  This  is  a 
line  from  Corneille's  "  Horace,"  III.  6,  "  Que  vouliez-vous  qu'il  fit 
contre  trois?"  The  answer  is,  "That  he  died"  (Qu'il  mouriit). 

After  the  establishment  of  the  Directory,  the  Abbe  Poulle 
entered  the  house  of  Sieyes,  and  fired  a  pistol  at  him,  which 
broke  his  wrist  and  grazed  his  chest.  Seeing  at  the  trial  that 
the  sympathy  of  the  spectators  was  on  Poulle's  side,  Sieyes,  on 
his  return  home,  said  to  his  porter,  "  If  Poulle  calls  again,  you 
will  say  that  I  am  not  at  home  "  (Si  Poulle  revient  vous  lui  direz 
que  je  ri"y  suis  pas). 

Sieyes  took  credit  to  himself  for  coining  a  new  cry,  "  Vive  la 
nation  !  "  "  an  astonishing  one  at  that  time,"  he  added  (Le  pre- 


498  SIXTHS  Y. 


mier  qui  cria  "Vive  la  nation,"  et  cela  e'tonna  bien  alors,  ce  fut  w?oz). 
When  the  thought  those  words  expressed  had  stirred  men's  minds 
sufficiently  to  cause  a  vote  to  be  passed  perpetuating  the  Tiers 
Etat  as  the  National  Assembly,  the  Revolution  was  accomplished. 

SIXTUS   F. 

[Felix  Peretti;  born  near  Montalto,  Italy,  1521;  became  pope  as 
Sixtus  V.,  1585  ;  distinguished  for  his  energy  and  public  spirit  ; 
founded  the  Vatican  Library  and  several  colleges;  built  the  great 
aqueduct  called  by  his  name;  died  1589.] 

Hitherto  I  have  sought  the  key  of  heaven  bent  over : 
now  I  have  found  it. 

Or,  "If  I  formerly  walked  bent  over,  it  was  because  I  was 
seeking  the  key  of  paradise,"  —  words  fitted  to  the  story  that 
Sixtus  V.,  before  his  election,  simulated  the  infirmities  of  age 
so  artfully  that  the  other  cardinals  thought  he  had  not  long  to 
live,  and  therefore  elected  him  to  the  pontificate ;  as  soon  as  he 
became  pope  he  threw  away  his  crutches,  and  astonished  every- 
body by  his  vigor.  From  that  anecdote,  whether  true  or  false, 
came  the  proverb  that  any  cardinal  too  infirm  to  walk  erect  was 
seeking  the  keys.  —  TALLEMANT  :  Historiettes,  X.  74. 

Before  his  election  Peretti's  motto  was,  "  Panis  et  aqua,  vita 
beata  "  (Bread  and  water  is  contentment)  ;  after  his  election, 
"Aqua  et  panis,  vita  cam's"  (Water  and  bread  is  a  dog's  life). 

When,  soon  after  his  accession,  he  was  asked  to  pardon  four 
young  men  convicted  of  carrying  concealed  weapons,  he  replied, 
"  While  I  live  every  criminal  must  die." 

JAMES  SMITH. 

[An  English  humorist ;  born  in  London,  1775  ;  wrote  with  his 
brother  Horace  for  different  periodicals,  and  brought  out  with  him 
in  1812  the  "Rejected  Addresses,"  being  imitations  of  popular  poets 
of  the  day;  died  1839.] 

Because  you  are  James  II.,  and  must  abdicate. 

A  man  of  the  same  name,  living  in  the  same  house,  constantly 
received  Smith's  letters,  who  finally  told  him  it  was  intolerable, 

*/ 

and  he  must  quit.  When  asked  why,  Smith  replied,  "  Because 
you  are  James  II.,  and  must  abdicate." 


SYDNEY  SMITH.  499 


When  Bentley,  the  publisher,  proposed  calling  his  magazine 
"The  Wits'  Miscellany,"  Smith  objected  that  it  promised  too 
much  :  when  "  Bentley 's  Miscellany  ''  was  suggested,  Smith  asked, 
"  Isn't  that  going  a  little  too  far  the  other  way  ?  " 

SYDNEY  SMITH. 

[An  English  divine,  wit,  and  writer;  born  in  Essex,  1771;  edu- 
cated at  Oxford;  one  of  the  founders,  first  editor,  and  frequent 
contributor  to  "  The  Edinburgh  Review;  "  promoted  the  cause  of 
Catholic  emancipation  ;  prebend  of  St.  Paul's,  London,  1831  ;  died 
February,  1845.] 

Take  short  views. 

One  of  Sydney  Smith's  favorite  maxims  was,  "  Take  short 
views,  hope  for  the  best,  and  trust  in  God."  Alexander  Pope 
said,  "  It  is  best  for  us  to  be  short-sighted  in  the  different  stages 
of  our  life,  just  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  best  for  us  in  this 
world  not  to  know  how  it  is  to  be  wdth  us  in  the  next."  The 
prescription  of  Samuel  Rogers,  who  died  at  ninety-two,  was, 
"Temperance,  the  bath  and  flesh-brush,  and  don't  fret."  At 
another  time  Sydney  Smith  said,  "  The  best  physicians  are,  Dr. 
Diet,  Dr.  Quiet,  and  Dr.  Merryman."  This  is  from  the  Latin :  — 

"  Si  tibi  deficiant  medici,  tibi  fiant 
Hsec  tria;  mens  Iseta,  requies,  moderata  diseta." 

Twelve  miles  from  a  lemon. 

"  My  living  in  Yorkshire,"  he  once  said,  "  was  so  far  out  of  the 
way  that  it  was  actually  twelve  miles  from  a  lemon." 

We  cultivate  literature  upon  a  little  oatmeal. 

The  motto  Sydney  Smith  suggested  for  "  The  Edinburgh  Re- 


view : "  — 


"  —  tenui  musam  meditamur  avena." 

VIRGIL  :  Eclogues,  I.  2. 

This  was  rejected  as  too  indicative  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
founders. 

When  a  bore  complained  that  Jeffrey  had  interrupted  him  in 

his  usual  disquisition  on  the  North  Pole,  by  exclaiming,  "  D 

the  North  Pole  !  "  Mr.  Smith  replied,  "  You  will  scarcely  believe 


500  SYDNEY  SMITH. 


it,  but  it  is  not  more  than  a  week  ago  that  I  heard  him  speak 
disrespectfully  of  the  Equator." 

In  a  discussion  on  pedigree,  he  said  to  a  lady  who  asked  about 
his  grandfather,  "  He  disappeared  about  the  time  of  the  assizes, 
and  we  asked  no  questions.'' 

He  replied  to  a  request  to  furnish  the  Smith  arms  for  a  county 
history,  "  The  Smiths  never  had  any  arms,  and  have  invariably 
sealed  their  letters  with  their  thumbs." 

On  hearing  a  lady  at  table  decline  gravy,  he  exclaimed,  "Madam, 
I  have  been  looking  all  my  life  for  a  person  who  disliked  gravy : 
let  us  swear  eternal  friendship." 

When  it  was  stated  that  a  certain  bishop  was  about  to  marry, 
he  asked,  "  How  can  a  bishop  marry  ?  How  can  he  flirt  ?  The 
most  he  can  say  is,  '  I  will  see  you  in  the  vestry  after  service.' ' 

There  'will  be  no  difficulty  about  it,  if  only  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  put  their  heads  together. 

On  hearing  that  St.  Paul's  churchyard  was  to  be  paved  with 
wooden  blocks.  He  said  to  a  child  wrho  was  stroking  a  turtle's 
back,  thinking  it  would  please  the  turtle,  "  You  might  as  well 
stroke  the  dome  of  St.  Paul's  to  please  the  Dean  and  Chapter." 

He  remarked,  on  seeing  people  recede  before  a  servant  carrying 
a  steaming  tea-kettle,  "  A  man  who  wishes  to  make  his  way  in 
life  could  do  nothing  better  than  go  through  the  world  with  a 
boiling  tea-kettle  in  his  hand." 

Sydney  Smith  once  said  of  his  handwriting,  "  It  is  as  if  a 
swarm  of  ants,  escaping  from  the  ink-bottle,  had  walked  over 
a  sheet  of  paper  without  wiping  their  legs." 

Of  a  voluminous  work  he  said,  "  Don't  read  those  twelve  vol- 
umes till  they  are  made  into  a  consomme  of  two.  Lord  Dudley 
did  better  :  he  waited  until  they  blew  over." 

He  remarked  of  two  of  his  friends,  "  Why,  look,  there  is  Jef- 
frey, there  is  my  little  friend ,  who  has  not  body  enough  to 

cover  his  mind  decently  with." 

He  once  said  of  the  heat,  to  a  lady,  "  I  found  there  was  nothing 
for  it  but  to  take  off  my  flesh  and  sit  in  my  bones." 

When  a  beautiful  girl  told  him  in  a  garden  that  a  certain 
pea  would  never  come  to  perfection,  "  Permit  me,  then,"  he  said, 
taking  her  by  the  hand,  "  to  lead  perfection  to  the  pea." 


SYDNEY  SMITH.  501 


I  wish  they  would  allow  me  the  wing  of  a  roasted 
butterfly. 

When  ill. 

A  lady  asked  him  for  a  motto  for  her  dog  Spot :  "  Out,  damned 
Spot!"  he  replied  (Macbeth,  V.  1). 

He  used  to  remark  that  he  had  one  little  weakness,  —  he  should 
like  to  roast  a  Quaker.  "  A  Quaker  baby  ! '"  he  once  exclaimed, 
"there  is  no  such  thing:  they  are  always  born  broad-brimmed 
and  in  full  quake." 

Of  course,  if   I  ever  did  go  to  a  fancy  ball  at  all,  I 
should  go  as  a  Dissenter. 

Shortly  before  his  death  he  said,  "  I  feel  so  weak  both  in  mind 
and  body,  that  I  verily  believe  if  the  knife  were  put  into  my 
hands  I  should  not  have  strength  or  energy  enough  to  stick  it 
into  a  Dissenter." 

When  Rogers  asked  him  how  he  liked  dining  in  the  picture- 
gallery,  with  candles  placed  high  on  the  wall  to  show  the  pictures, 
Mr.  Smith  disapproved  of  it :  "  Above  there  is  a  blaze  of  light, 
and  below  nothing  but  darkness  and  gnashing  of  teeth." 

When  advised  to  take  a  walk  upon  an  empty  stomach,  he 
asked,  "  Whose  stomach  ?  " 

You  will  find  people  ready  enough  to  do  the  Samar- 
itan without  the  oil  and  two-pence. 

Don't  you  know,  as  the  French  say,  there  are  three 
sexes,  —  men,  women,  and  clergymen  ? 

What  is  childhood  but  a  series  of  happy  illusions! 

"  I  have  only  one  illusion  left,"  he  once  remarked,  "  and  that 
is  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury." 

When  the  Republic  of  Geneva  forbade  M. to  shoot 

in  the  republic,  he  said  it  made  no   difference:   he 
would  shoot  over  the  republic. 

No  man,  I  fear,  can  effect  great  benefits  for  his  coun- 
try without  some  sacrifice  of  the  minor  virtues. 

Turgot  says,  "  Scrupulous  people  are  not  suited  to  great 
affairs." 


502  SYDNEY  SMITH. 


Is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  thing? 

When  advised  to  have  his  portrait  painted  by  Landseer.  Call- 
ing with  Tom  Moore  to  see  the  latter's  portrait,  Mr.  Smith  sud- 
denly asked  the  painter,  "  Could  you  not  contrive  to  throw  into 
his  face  somewhat  of  a  stronger  expression  of  hostility  to  the 
Established  Church?" 

My  idea  of  heaven  is  eating  foie  gras  to  the  sound  of 
trumpets. 

Mr.  Justice  Buller  used  to  say  that  his  idea  of  heaven  was  "  to 
sit  at  nisi  prius  all  day,  and  play  at  whist  all  night."  —  CAMP- 
BELL :  Life  of  Mansfield,  chap.  34,  note. 

The  Bishop  of is  so  like  Judas  that  I  now  firmly 

believe  in  apostolic  succession. 

His  foible  is  omni-science. 

When  told  that  Dr.  Whewell's  forte  was  science. 
Of  Miss  Fox,  Lord  Holland's  sister,  he  said,  "  Oh !  she  is  per- 
fection :  she  always  gives  me  the  idea  of  an  aged  angel." 

I  had  a  very  odd  dream  last  night.  I  dreamed  there 
were  thirty-nine  Muses  and  nine  Articles,  and  my 
head  is  still  quite  confused  about  them. 

Mr.  has  no  command  over  his  understanding :  it 

is  always  getting  between  his  legs  and  tripping  him 
up. 

There  is  a  New-Zealand  attorney  arrived  in  London 
with  6s.  8d.  tattooed  all  over  his  face. 

Some  men  have  only  one  book  in  them;  others,  a 
library. 

When  an  improvement  in  ,  after  his  success,  was  noticed, 

Mr.  Smith  said,  "  Praise  is  the  best  diet  for  us,  after  all." 

On  receiving,  at  the  time  of  the  repudiation  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania State  bonds,  a  visitor  who  congratulated  him  upon  his 
happy  circumstances,  he  replied,  "  I  would  that  you  were  almost 
and  altogether  such  as  I  am,  except  these  bonds." 

But  few  puns  are  recorded  of  him :  "  Ireland  safe,  and  Bona- 


SYDNEY  SMITH.  503 


parte  embayed  in  Egypt ;  that  is,  surrounded  by  beys ; >!  and, 
"If  any  one  bearing  the  name  of  Grey  comes  this  way  (to 
Combe  Fleury)  send  him  to  us :  I  am  Grey-men-iuorous." 

Have  you  heard  of  Niebuhr's  discoveries  ?  All  Roman 
history  reversed :  Tarquin  turning  out  an  excellent 
family  man,  and  Lucretia  a  very  doubtful  character, 
whom  Lady would  not  have  visited ! 

My  dear  Rogers,  if  we  were  both  in  America,  we 
should  be  tarred  and  feathered;  and,  lovely  as  we 
are  by  nature,  I  should  be  an  ostrich,  and  you  an 
emu. 

Other  comparisons  were  made  between  Samuel  Rogers's  pale 
face  and  all  sorts  of  funereal  things.  He  once  returned  from 
Spa,  saying  he  had  to  leave  it  because  the  place  was  so  full  he 
could  not  find  a  bed  to  sleep  in.  Lord  Dudley  asked,  "Was 
there  no  room  in  the  churchyard  ?  "  Being  told  that  a  portrait 
of  Rogers  was  done  to  the  life,  "  To  the  death,  you  mean,"  sug- 
gested Dudley.  Under  a  caricature  of  the  poet  in  "Fraser's 
Magazine  "  were  the  words,  "  A  mortal  likeness  painted  to  the 
very  death."  Lord  Alvanley  once  said  to  him,  "Rogers,  you  are 
rich  enough.  Why  don't  you  keep  your  hearse? " 

An  amusing  instance  is  given  of  Lord  Dudley's  absence  of 
mind.  Meeting  Sydney  Smith  in  the  street,  he  said,  "  Dine  with 
me  to-day,  and  I  will  get  Sydney  Smith  to  meet  you."  Mr. 
Smith  replied  that  he  was  engaged  to  meet  him  elsewhere. 


There  are  three  things  that  every  man  fancies  he  can 
do :  farm  a  small  property,  drive  a  gig,  and  write  an 
article  for  a  review. 

You  can  say  you  are  bringing  with  you  the  cool  of 
the  evening. 

When  an  impertinent  young  man  wished  to  be  taken  to  Lady 
Blessing-ton's,  with  whom  he  was  not  acquainted,  and  it  was 
asked  how  he  could  be  introduced. 

To  Longman,  the  publisher,  he  once  wrote:  "I  can't  accept 
your  invitation,  for  my  house  is  full  of  country  cousins :  I  wish 
they  were  once  removed." 


504  SYDNEY  SMITH. 


After  being  champooed   at  Mahomet's   Baths,   Brighton,  he 
said,  "  They  squeezed  enough  out  of  me  to  make  a  lean  curate." 

Canning  in  office  is  like  a  fiy  in  amber.  Nobody  cares 
about  the  fly:  the  only  question  is,  "How  the  devil 
did  he  get  there?" 

From  Pope :  — 

"  Pretty  !  in  amber  to  observe  the  forms 
Of  hairs,  or  straws,  or  dirt,  or  grubs,  or  worms  ! 
The  things,  we  know,  are  neither  rich  nor  rare, 
But  wonder  how  the  Devil  they  got  there." 

Epistle  to  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  169. 

At  another  time  Sydney  Smith  said  of  Canning,  "When  he 
is  jocular,  he  is  strong :  when  he  is  serious,  he  is  like  Samson  in 


a  wig." 


Cultivate  the  love  of  reading  in  a  young  person :  it  is 
an  unceasing  source  of  pleasure,  and  probably  of 
innocence. 

Don't  mind  the  caprices  of  fashionable  women.  They 
are  as  gross  as  poodles  fed  on  milk  and  muffins. 

He  gave  the  following  definition  of  marriage  :  "  It  resembles  a 
pair  of  shears,  —  so  joined  that  they  cannot  be  separated,  often 
moving  in  opposite  directions,  yet  always  punishing  any  one 
who  comes  between  them." 

Love  in  the  abstract. 

"  I  once  heard,"  he  said,  "  a  young  lady  of  my  acquaintance  at 
a  dance  in  Edinburgh  exclaim,  in  a  sudden  pause  in  the  music, 
'  What  you  say,  my  lord,  is  very  true  of  love  in  the  abstract, 
but' —  Here  the  fiddles  began  fiddling,  and  the  rest  was  lost." 

Your  father  was  of  a  different  opinion. 

When  a  man,  beaten  by  Sydney  Smith  in  an  argument,  said, 
"  If  I  had  a  son  who  was  an  idiot,  I  would  make  him  a  parson," 
Mr.  Smith  replied,  "Your  father  was  of  a  different  opinion." 
Pico  de  La  Mirandola,  when  nine  years  old,  gave  promise  of  the 
extraordinary  genius  which  made  him  later  a  prodigy  of  learning 
and  controversial  powers.  An  old  man  remarked  to  him  at  that 


JEAN  SOANEN.  505 


age,  that  boys  who  showed  so  much  cleverness  became  stupid  in 
maturity ;  to  which  the  child  instantly  replied,  "  How  extraor- 
dinarily witty  you  must  have  been  when  young !  " 

Children  are  excellent  physiognomists,  and  soon  dis- 
cover their  real  friends. 

When  I  have  the  gout,  I  feel  as  if  I  were  walking  on 
my  eyeballs. 

I  think  breakfasts  so  pleasant,  because  no  one  is  con- 
ceited before  one  o'clock. 

Accuse  a  man  of  being  a  Socinian,  and  it  is  all  over 
with  him ;  for  the  country  gentlemen  think  it  has 
something  to  do  with  poaching. 

They  will  never  agree :  they  are  arguing  from  different 
premises. 

Seeing  two  women  abusing  each  other  from  opposite  houses. 

No  furniture  so  charming  as  books,  even  if  you  never 
open  them,  or  read  a  single  word. 

I  never  read  a  book  before  reviewing  it,  it  prejudices 
a  man  so ! 

Lord  Lansdowne  called  Sydney  Smith  "a  mixture  of  Punch 
and  Cato." 

JEAN  SOANEN. 

[A  French  prelate  and  eloquent  preacher;  born  at  Riom,  1647; 
became  bishop  of  Senez,  1695;  suspended  as  a  Jansenist,  1727;  died 
1740.] 

The  silence  of  the  people  is  the  lesson  of  kings ! 

When  deprived  by  Louis  XV.  of  his  bishopric.  This  striking 
sentence  was  used  also  by  Mirabeau,  who,  when  told  that  Louis 
XVI.  was  about  to  visit  the  National  Assembly,  advised  his  recep- 
tion "  with  a  sullen  respect ;  "  adding,  "Le  silence  du  peuple  est 
la  lepon  des  rois." 


506  SOCRATES. 


SOCRATES. 

[Called  by  Cicero  the  "  Father  of  Philosophy;"  born  at  Athens 
about  470  B.C.;  served  in  the  Peloponnesian  war;  held  the  office  of 
senator;  began  to  teach  about  425  B.C.;  accused  of  seeking  to  intro- 
duce new  deities,  and  of  corrupting  the  Athenian  youth;  sentenced 
to  death  by  poison  400  or  399  B.C.] 

After  thunder  follows  rain. 

When  Xanthippe  his  wife,  who  had  been  scolding  him  sharply, 
threw  water  over  him. 

She  hesitated  at  putting  on  his  mantle  to  see  a  procession, 
whereupon  he  said,  "  What  you  are  going  for  is  not  to  see,  but  to 
be  seen." 

We  do  not  live  to  eat :  we  eat  to  live. 

Quoted  by  Diogenes  Laertius,  and  Athenaus  ("  Deipnosoph- 
isten  ").  Moliere  uses  the  expression  :  "  Following  the  dictum  of 
an  ancient  philosopher,  il  faut  manger  pour  vivre,  et  non  pas  vivre 
pour  manger."  —  L'Avare,  III.  5. 

I  would  lash  thee,  were  I  not  angry. 

To  a  slave. 

As  it  is  the  attribute  of  God  to  want  nothing,  so  to 
want  as  little  as  possible  comes  the  nearest  to  God. 

Memorabilia,  I.  6.  Seeing  the  luxury  of  certain  ceremonies, 
and  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  used  in  them,  he  remarked, 
"  How  many  things  I  do  not  want !  "  When  told  that  it  was  a 
great  thing  to  get  what  one  desired,  he  replied,  "  It  is  a  still 
greater  thing  to  have  no  desires." 

King  Archelaus  invited  him  to  leave  the  dirty  streets  of 
Athens,  and  come  to  live  at  his  sumptuous  court ;  but  he  an- 
swered, "  Meal,  please  your  majesty,  is  half  a  penny  a  peck  at 
Athens,  and  water  I  can  get  for  nothing." 


By  what  means  do  I  engage  in  state  affairs  to  the 
greatest  advantage ;  by  busying  myself  in  them  alone, 
or  by  taking  care  that  as  many  as  possible  may  be 

capable  of  conducting  them? 

Memorabilia,  I.  6. 


SOLON.  507 


If  all  our  misfortunes  were  laid  in  one  common  heap, 
•whence  every  one  must  take  an  equal  portion,  most 
people  would  be  contented  to  take  their  own  and 

depart. 

PLUTARCH:  Consolation  to  Apollonius. 

I  am  preparing  the  sauce  for  my  supper. 

To  a  friend,  who  saw  him  walking  rapidly :  or,  as  it  is  given  as 
an  aphorism,  "  Hunger  is  the  best  sauce ;  for  it  makes  all  food 
palatable,  and  costs  nothing."  Dionysius  of  Sicily,  having  heard 
a  certain  Spartan  dish  praised,  secured  a  Lacedaemonian  cook,  and 
told  him  to  prepare  it.  When,  however,  he  found  it  unpalatable, 
the  cook  told  him  he  had  eaten  it  without  the  Spartan  sauce,  — 
work,  exercise,  hunger,  and  thirst.  "Hunger,"  writes  Cicero 
("De  Finibus,"  II.  28),  "is  the  best  seasoning  for  meat." 

Do  you  know  any  place  out  of  Attica  where  people  do 
not  die? 

When  Crito  told  him  that  the  jailer  had  been  gained  over, 
and  that  he  could  escape  into  Thessaly.  Among  the  last  words 
of  Socrates  before  drinking  the  hemlock,  were :  "  Crito,  we  owe 
a  cock  to  Esculapius :  pay  it,  I  pray  you ;  neglect  it  not." 

SOLON. 

[The  Athenian  legislator;  one  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece; 
born  in  Salamis  about  638  B.C.;  archon  and  lawgiver,  594;  repealed 
the  laws  of  Draco,  established  the  Areopagus,  opposed  the  ambition 
of  Pisistratus;  died  about  558.] 

The  ideal  state. 

At  a  dinner  given  by  Periander,  tyrant  of  Corinth,  to  the 
Seven  Wise  Men,  including  Anacharsis,  the  question  wras  asked, 
What  is  the  ideal  state,  or  most  perfect  form  of  popular  gov- 
ernment ?  The  answers  given  by  the  philosophers  were  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

Solon :  "  That  in  which  an  injury  done  to  the  least  of  its  citi- 
zens is  an  injury  done  to  all." 

Bias :  "Where  the  law  has  no  superior." 

Thales  :  "  Where  the  rich  are  neither  too  rich,  nor  the  poor  too 
poor." 


508  SOLOX. 


Anacharsis  :  "  Where  virtue  is  honored,  and  vice  detested." 

Pittacus  :  "  Where  dignities  are  always  conferred  on  the  good, 
never  on  the  bad." 

Cleobulus  :  "  Where  the  citizens  fear  blame  more  than  punish- 
ment." 

Chilo :  "  Where  the  laws  are  more  regarded,  and  have  more 
authority,  than  the  orators." 

Goethe  has  asked,  "What  government  is  best?  That  which 
teaches  us  to  govern  ourselves."  At  another  time  he  said,  "  The 
best  government  is  that  which  makes  itself  superfluous." 

"  Good  government,"  says  Confucius,  "  obtains  when  those 
who  are  near  are  made  happy,  and  those  who  are  far  off  are 
attracted." 


Call  no  man  happy  until  his  death. 

To  Croesus,  king  of  Lydia.  He  said,  on  seeing  the  treasure  of 
Croesus,  "  If  another  king  comes,  who  has  better  iron  than  you, 
he  will  be  master  of  all  this  gold." 

.ZEsop  told  Solon,  who  was  chagrined  at  the  poor  reception  his 
truths  met  with  at  the  court  of  Crcesus,  "  A  man  should  either 
not  converse  with  kings  at  all,  or  say  what  is  agreeable  to  them;  " 
to  which  Solon  replied,  "  Nay,  he  should  either  not  do  it  at  all, 
or  say  what  is  useful  to  them."  —  PLUTARCH  :  Life.  "  Agreeable 
advice,"  says  Massillon,  "is  rarely  useful  advice." 

Laws  are  like  cobwebs,  that  entangle  the  weak,  but 
are  broken  by  the  strong. 

He  that  has  learned  to  obey  will  know  how  to  com- 
mand. 

In  every  thing  you  do,  consider  the  end. 

In  Latin,  respice  finem. 

"  The  end  crowns  all." 

Troilus  and  Cressida,  IV.  5. 

Friendships  are  best  formed  at  home. 

His  reply  to  Anacharsis,  a  stranger,  who  desired  to  enter  into 
engagements  of  friendship  with  him.  Then  said  Anacharsis, 
"  Do  you,  wrho  are  at  home,  make  me  your  friend."  —  PLUTARCH  : 


SOPHOCLES.  509 


Life  of  Solon.  It  was  this  Anacharsis,  who,  having  seen  an  as- 
sembly of  the  people  at  Athens,  said  that  "  in  Greece  wise  men 
plead  causes,  and  fools  determine  them." 

Absolute  monarchy  is  a  fair  field,  but  it  has  no  outlet. 

Ibid.  When  asked  if  he  had  given  the  Athenians  the  best 
laws,  Solon  replied,  "  If  not  the  best,  the  best  they  are  capable  of 
receiving."  Being  asked  how  wrong-doing  could  be  avoided  in 
the  state,  he  said,  "  If  those  who  are  not  wronged  feel  the  same 
indignation  as  those  who  are." 

SOPHOCLES. 

[A  Greek  tragic  poet;  born  near  Athens,  495  B.C.;  gained  the  first 
prize,  468;  composed  more  than  one  hundred  tragedies,  of  which 
seven  are  extant;  died  405.] 

If  I  am  Sophocles,  I  am  not  beside  myself;  if  I  am 
beside  myself,  I  am  not  Sophocles. 

When  accused  in  his  old  age  of  incapacity  to  manage  or  dis- 
pose of  his  property.  The  story,  which  is  included  by  Fournier 
among  historic  fictions,  is  as  follows :  The  family  of  Sophocles 
consisted  of  two  sons,  —  lophon,  the  offspring  of  a  free  Athe- 
nian woman ;  and  Ariston,  by  Theoris  of  Sicyon.  Ariston  had 
a  son  named  Sophocles,  for  whom  his  grandfather  showed  the 
greatest  affection.  lophon,  the  rightful  heir,  jealous  of  the 
youthful  Sophocles,  upon  whom  he  feared  the  poet  would  bestow 
his  property,  summoned  the  latter  before  the  officers  having 
jurisdiction  over  family  matters,  on  the  charge  that  his  mind  was 
affected  by  old  age.  As  his  only  reply,  Sophocles  exclaimed, 
"  If  I  am  Sophocles,  I  am  not  beside  myself ;  if  I  am  beside  my- 
self, I  am  not  Sophocles."  He  then  read  a  magnificent  passage 
from  his  "  OEdipus  Colonus,"  which  was  lately  written,  but  not 
yet  brought  out ;  and  the  judges  at  once  dismissed  the  case,  and 
rebuked  lophon  for  his  undutiful  conduct.  Sophocles  forgave 
his  son ;  and  the  reconciliation  may  be  referred  to  in  the  lines  of 
the  "  (Edipus  Colonus,"  where  Antigone  pleads  with  CEdipus' 
father  to  forgive  Polynices,  as  other  fathers  had  been  induced  to 
forgive  their  bad  children  (v.  1192,  etc.}. 


510  MADAME  DE   STAEL. 

Sophocles  used  to  say  of  the  compositions  of  Euripides,  "I 
represent  men  as  they  ought  to  be,  Euripides  as  they  are."  Gold- 
smith describes  Reynolds :  — 

tt 

"  A  flattering  painter,  who  made  it  his  care 
To  draw  men  as  they  ought  to  he,  not  as  they  are." 

Retaliation,  63. 

MADAME  DE  STAEL. 

[Anne  Louise  Necker,  a  celebrated  authoress,  daughter  of  Necker 
the  financier;  horn  in  Paris,  April  22,  1766;  married  Baron  de  Stae'l- 
Holstein,  a  Swedish  diplomatist,  1786;  banished  from  Paris  by  Bona- 
parte, 1802;  published  "  Corinne,"  1807;  "  De  1'Allemagne,"  1810;  re- 
turned to  Paris  after  the  abdication  of  Napoleon;  died  there  July, 
1817.] 

Show  me  the  rivulet  of  the  Rue  du  Bac ! 

On  seeing  and  hearing  praised  the  Lake  of  Geneva,  after  her 
exile  from  Paris,  she  exclaimed,  "  Montrez-moi  le  ruisseau  de  la 
Rue  du  Bac  !  "  Her  home  had  been  in  the  Rue  de  Grenelle  St. 
Germain,  near  the  Rue  du  Bac,  on  the  south  side  of  the  Seine, 
in  the  Faubourg  de  St.  Germain.  The  word  "  rivulet "  refers  to 
the  stream  of  fresh  water  which  flows  through  the  gutter  of  the 
streets  in  Paris.  It  was  a  cry  for  home,  as  compared  with  the 
most  beautiful  foreign  landscape.  Nature,  however,  seems  to 
have  had  no  charm  for  Mine,  de  Stael.  In  surprise  that  M.  Mole, 
minister  of  Louis  XVIII.,  could  love  the  country,  she  declared, 
"  If  it  were  not  for  public  opinion,  I  would  not  open  my  window 
to  see  the  Bay  of  Naples  for  the  first  time,  while  I  would  go  five 
hundred  leagues  to  talk  with  a  man  of  sense  whom  I  had  not 
known."  The  Earl  of  Essex  (1540-1576),  quoted  in  Boswell's 
"  Johnson,"  "  would  rather  go  a  hundred  miles  to  speak  with  one 
wise  man  than  five  miles  to  see  a  fair  town."  On  the  other  hand, 
when  the  precocious  Mile.  Necker  was  asked  what  she  admired 
most  in  a  visit  to  Versailles,  she  replied,  "  I  preferred  the  statues 
in  the  garden  to  the  personages  of  the  palace ; "  and  when  her 
brother  further  asked  her  what  harm  the  visit  had  done  her,  she 
said,'"  To  make  me  feel  injustice,  and  look  upon  absurdity." 

One  of  the  exaggerated  expressions  called  forth  by  her  banish- 
ment was,  "I  am  the  Orestes  of  exile!  "  (Je  suis  VOreste  d'exil  /) 


MADAME  DE  STAEL.  511 

She  compared  herself  to  Orestes,  seized  with  madness  and  pur- 
sued from  land  to  land  by  the  Erinyes  of  his  mother,  whom  he 
had  slain.  At  another  time  her  mind  reverted  to  a  character  in 
the  "  Inferno,"  who,  after  ruling  tyrannically  in  Pisa,  was  shut  up 
in  a  tower,  where  he  was  starved  to  death  :  "  I  seem,"  she  said, 
"  in  imagination  to  be  in  the  tower  of  Ugolino  ;  fatality  pursues 
me  :  exile  is  almost  death "  (on  est  presque  mart  quand  on  est 
exile}.  Thus  Ovid,  banished  from  Rome  to  the  deserts  of  Sar- 
matia,  cried,  "  Exile  is  death "  (Exilium  mors  est}  ;  but  Victor 
Hugo  wrote  upon  the  door  of  his  study  in  Jersey,  "  Exilium  vita 
est"  (Exile  is  life).  Cicero  wrote  to  Atticus  from  Thessalonica, 
Aug.  17,  58  B.C.,  during  his  ill-borne  banishment:  "While  all 
other  sorrows  are  mellowed  by  age,  this  [exile]  can  only  grow 
keener  day  by  day,  as  one  thinks  of  the  misery  of  the  present, 
and  looks  back  on  the  days  that  are  past."  This  anticipates  — 

"  the  truth  the  poet  sings, 
That  a  sorrow's  crown  of  sorrows  is  remembering  happier  things  " 

("  Locksley  Hall "),  where  Tennyson  translates  Dante,  — 

"  Nessun  maggior  dolore 
Che  ricordarsi  del  tempo  felice 

Nella  niiseria." 

Inferno,  V.  121. 

"Exile,"  says  Curran,  "is  the  bitterest  ingredient  of  captivity. 
If  Adversity  ever  becomes  a  teacher,  surely  her  school  ought  to 
be  found  in  exile."  —  Life,  344. 

A  Robespierre  on  horseback. 

In  her  opinion,  Bonaparte  at  the  outset  of  his  career  was  a 
military  revolutionist  (un  Robespierre  a  cheval}.  At  a  later  period 
she  said  of  him,  "  His  path  lay  across  virtues  and  vices,  as  across 
mountains  and  rivers,  and  he  followed  it "  (II  traversa.it  les  vertus 
et  les  vices  comme  il  traventdtt  les  monlagnes  et  les  fleuves,  parce  que 
c'etait  son  chemin}.  During  the  "Hundred  Days"  she  declared, 
of  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  by  foreign  arms,  "  If  Xapoleou 
triumph,  it  is  all  over  with  liberty:  if  he  succumbs  to  Europe, 
national  independence  is  gone  "  (Si  Napoleon  triomphe,  e'en  est  fait 
de  la  liberte  :  s'il  succombe  deva.nl  V Europe,  e'en  est  fait  de  I'indepen- 
dance  nationale}. 


512  MADAME   DE  STAEL. 

The  advanced  guard  of  the  race. 

She  said  to  some  Americans,  after  the  "War  of  Independence, 
"  You  are  the  advanced  guard  of  the  human  race  :  you  have  the 
fortune  of  the  world." 

She  declared  to  Lord  Byron  at  Vichy,  "  It  does  not  do  to  war 
with  the  world  :  the  world  is  too  strong  for  the  individual." 

According  to  Mme.  de  Stael,  "  Morality  is  the  nature  of  things." 

She  was  probably  thinking  of  herself  when  she  said,  "  Con- 
versation, like  talent,  exists  only  in  France." 

Between  wit  and  beauty. 

It  is  related  of  M.  de  Lalande,  the  celebrated  astronomer,  that, 
finding  himself  seated  at  dinner  at  Mme  Recamier's  between  her 
and  Mme.  de  Stael,  he  unfortunately  remarked,  "  Plow  happy  I 
am  to  find  myself  between  \vit  and  beauty!'  to  which  Mme. 
de  Stael  immediately  rejoined,  "  And  without  possessing  either !  " 
A  similar  story  is  told  of  Adrien  de  Montmorency,  afterwards 
Due  de  Laval,  minister  of  Charles  X.  at  Vienna,  that,  walking 
one  day  with  the  same  ladies  in  the  park  of  Clichy,  and  making 
the  same  remark  as  M.  de  Lalande,  Mme.  de  Stael,  who  could 
not  bear  that  the  palm  of  beauty  should  be  adjudged  to  another, 
replied,  •"  That  is  the  first  compliment  that  was  ever  paid  to  my 
face !  "  (Voila  le  premier  compliment  que  je  re^ois  sur  ma  figure  /) 
The  French  Ana  attribute  to  Talleyrand  a  reply  to  Mme.  de 
Stael  as  startling  as  that  of  Napoleon  (v.  p.  406).  She  pressed 
him  to  say  which  of  two  ladies  he  preferred,  herself  or  Mme.  de 

II ,  each  of  whom  received  an  equal  share  of  his  attentions. 

The  wily  diplomatist  for  a  long  time  succeeded  in  evading  a 
direct  answer,  until  she  exclaimed,  "  Confess  now,  that  if  we 
both  fell  into  the  river,  I  should  not  be  the  first  you  would  think 
of  saving."  —  "It  is  quite  possible,"  he  replied:  "you  know  how 
to  swim"  (A/«  foi,  c'est  bien  possible:  vous  sacez  nager).  Talley- 
rand was  once  asked  by  a  friend  how  he  could  marry  so  stupid  a 
woman  as  Mrs.  Grant :  "  Don't  you  see  ?  "  he  replied,  "  I  was  so 
worn  out  by  Mme.  de  Stael's  wit,  that  I  thought  I  couldn't  go 
too  far  the  other  way  "  (fai  cru  ne  pouvoir  jamais  donner  assez 
dans  I'exces  conlraire). 

Mme.  de  Stael  was  once  asked  how  she  would  describe  her 


GEN.   STARK.  513 


sensibility,  gallantries,  and  other  personal  characteristics,  in  her 
"Memoirs."  "Oh!  "  she  answered,  "I  shall  only  give  a  bust  of 
myself." 

Her  last  words  were  :  "I  have  loved  God,  my  father,  and 
liberty." 

"  If  I  were  queen,"  said  Mme.  de  Tesse,  "  I  would  order  Mme. 
de  Stae'l  to  talk  to  me  all  day."  Others,  however,  like  Talley- 
rand, listened  to  her  brilliant  conversation  with  mingled  admira- 
tion and  despair ;  for  Goethe  declared  that  she  never  granted  a 
moment's  reflection  on  the  most  important  topics,  "  but  persist- 
ently demanded  that  we  should  despatch  the  deepest  concerns 
as  lightly  as  if  it  were  a  game  at  shuttlecocks."  —  Wahrheit  und 
DicJitung.  Thus  she  is  said  to  have  asked  an  English  statesman 
to  tell  her  all  about  the  British  Constitution  in  ten  minutes. 
Curran,  however,  said  of  her,  "  Mme.  de  Stae'l  talks  herself  into 
a  beauty." 

GEN.  STARK. 

[John  Stark,  an  American  general  of  the  Eevolution  ;  born  in 
Londonderry,  N.  H.,  1728;  served  in  the  French  war;  gained  the  vic- 
tory of  Bennington,  Aug.  16,  1777;  commanded  the  Northern  Depart- 
ment, 1781  •;  died  1822.] 

We   must    beat    the    red-coats,    or    Molly   Stark's   a 
widow. 

"  Common  report,"  says  his  biographer,  "  has  attributed  a  brief 
address  to  the  American  general  before  the  battle  of  Benning- 
ton, such  as,  '  There,  my  boys,  are  your  enemies,  the  red-coats 
and  Tories :  you  must  beat  them,  or  my  wife  sleeps  a  widow 
to-night.'"  Seven  hundred  and  fifty  prisoners,  chiefly  Hessians,, 
besides  two  hundred  left  dead  on  the  field,  one  thousand  stand 
of  arms,  with  cannon  and  stores,  were  the  material  result  of 
Stark's  victory,  which  was  far  outweighed  by  its  moral  effect. 

N  SWIFT. 

[Jonathan  Swift,  a  celebrated  satirist,  born  in  Dublin,  Nov.  30,. 
IHiiT;  published  "The  Tale  of  a  Tub,"  1704;  became  intimate  with 
Bolingbroke,  Pope,  and  Harley;   appointed   dean  of  St.  Patrick's, 
Dublin,   1713;    wrote   "Gulliver's  Travels,"   1726-27;    died,  after  a 
failure  of  his  mental  faculties,  October,  1745.] 


514  DEAN  SWIFT. 


If  you  like  the  terms  of  the  loan,  down  with  the  dust ! 

A  short  charity  sermon  on  the  text,  "  He  that  giveth  to  the 
poor  lendeth  to  the  Lord." 

Any  man  may  get   a  reputation  for  benevolence  by 
judiciously  laying  out  five  pounds  a  year. 

The   chief  end  of   all  my  labor   is  to  vex  the  world, 
rather  than  to  divert  it. 

Letter  to  Pope. 

Great  God !  what  a  genius  I  had  when  I  wrote  that 
book! 

Of  the  "Tale  of  a  Tub." 

Send  me  your  bill  of  company. 

To  a  lord  who  said  he  would  send  him  his  bill  of  fare,  when 
inviting  him  to  dinner. 

His  impromptu  epitaph  on  Yanbrugh,  the  architect,  is  well- 
known  :  — 

"  Lie  heavy  on  him,  Earth,  for  he 
Laid  many  a  heavy  load  on  thee." 

He  said  to  an  elderly  gentleman  who  had  lost  his  spectacles, 
"  If  this  rain  continues  all  night,  you  will  certainly  find  them  in 
the  morning,"  punning  on  spectacula  in  Virgil's  line,  — 

"  Nocte  tota  pluit,  redeunt  spectacula  inane." 

Swift  made  an  even  wittier  quotation,  when  a  lady  at  an  enter- 
tainment at  Dublin  Castle  knocked  a  violin  off  the  table  with 
her  mantle :  — 

"  Mantua  vse  miserse  nimium  vicina  Cremonse; " 

literally,  — 

"Mantua  too  near,  alas  !  to  miserable  Cremona." 

The  Jesuit  Pere  Arnoud  saw  Marie  de  Medici  enter  Notre 
Dame,  where  he  was  preaching  during  Passion  Week.  Obliged 
to  begin  his  sermon  anew,  he  addressed  to  the  queen  the  line  of 
Virgil,  - 


DEAN   SWIFT.  515 


"  Infaudum  regina  jubes  renovare  dolorem." 

JZneid,  II.  2. 
"  Thou  bidst  me,  queen,  renew  a  grief  no  words  can  speak." 

Long's  Translation. 

The  best  of  life  is  just  tolerable :  'tis  the  most  we  can 
make  of  it. 

When  a  quack  pretended  to  cure  agues,  and  wrote  "  egoes  >n 
on  his  sign,  Swift  was  sure  "  the  cure  was  not  made  by  a  spell." 

He  gave  a  Mr.  Coote  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Pope  in  these 
words:  "Though  this  little  fellow  be  a  justice  of  the  peace  and 
a  member  of  our  Irish  House  of  Commons,  yet  he  may  not  be 
altogether  unworthy  of  your  acquaintance." 

When  asked  at  a  sheriff's  dinner  to  drink  to  the  trade  of  Ire- 
land, he  replied,  "  Sir,  I  drink  no  memories." 

Yes,  and  you  are  reeling  it  home. 

When  a  drunken  weaver  staggered  against  him,  saying  he  had 
been  spinning  it  out. 

After  the  dissipated  Duke  of  Wharton  had  been  narrating  his 
frolics,  Swift  said  to  him,  "  My  lord,  let  me  recommend  one  more 
to  you.  Take  a  frolic  to  be  good :  rely  upon  it,  you  will  find  it 
the  pleasantest  frolic  you  were  ever  engaged  in." 

When  asked  the  easiest  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  difficult 
thing  a  man  could  do  :  "  Bolt  a»door." 

In  a  letter  to  Bolingbroke,  March  21,  1729,  he  said  he  did  not 
wish  "to  die  here  in  a  rage,  like  a  poisoned  rat  in  a  hole." 

Walking  once  with  Pope  and  Addison,  Swift  stopped  to  look 
at  a  tree  dead  at  the  top.  "  I  shall  end  like  it,"  he  remarked.  — 
JOHNSON  :  Life.  He  died  mad.  His  last  words  were,  as  Handel 
was  announced,  "  Ah,  a  German  and  a  genius  !  a  prodigy,  admit 
him ! " 

"  From  Marlborough's  eyes  the  streams  of  dotage  flow, 
And  Swift  expires  a  driveller  and  a  show." 

JOHNSON  :  Vanity  of  Human  Wishes. 

"  Xo  one  could  be  an  ill-tempered  man,"  said  Fox,  "  who  wrote 
so  much  nonsense  as  Swift  did." 

Coleridge  called  Swift  "  the  soul  of  Rabelais  dwelling  in  a  dry 
place." 


516  TALLEYRAND. 


TALLEYRAND. 

[Charles  Maurice  de  Talleyrand-Pe'rigord,  Prince  de  Benevento, 
a  French  wit  and  diplomatist;  born  in  Paris,  Feb.  13,  1754;  entered 
the  Church,  and  became  bishop  of  Autun,  1788,  which  he  resigned 
in  two  years;  liberal  member  of  the  States-General;  expelled  from 
England,  and  visited  the  United  States,  1793;  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  1797;  grand  chamberlain,  1804-09;  minister  of  foreign  affairs 
under  Louis  XVIII.;  member  of  the  Congress  of  Vienna,  1815; 
ambassador  to  London,  1830-34;  died  May,  1838.] 

Speech  was  given  to  man  to  conceal  his  thoughts  (La 
parole  a  ete  donne  a  Vhomme  pour  deyuiser  sa  pensee). 

Given  by  Barere  in  his  "  Memoirs  "  ("  Talleyrand,"  vol.  IV.)  as 
the  answer  of  the  diplomatist  to  the  Spanish  ambassador  Izqui- 
redo,  who  reminded  him  of  the  promises  made  to  Charles  IV., 
in  spite  of  which,  however,  the  king  had  been  obliged  to  ab- 
dicate. Harel  asserted  in  the  feuilleton  of  the  "  Siecle,"  Aug. 
24,  1846,  that  he  assigned  the  mot,  in  the  "  Xain  Jamie,"  to  Tal- 
leyrand, in  order  to  claim  it  as  his  own  after  the  death  of  the 
diplomatist ;  but,  as  the  author  of  a  eulogy  of  Voltaire,  he  must 
have  known  that  the  latter  wrote  in  the  dialogue  "  Le  Chapon  et 
la  Poularde : "  "  Men  use  thought  only  as  authority  for  their 
injustice,  and  employ  speech  only  to  conceal  their  thoughts"  (Us 
ne  se  servent  de  la  pensee  que  pour  autoriser  leurs  injustices,  et  em- 
ploient  les  paroles  que  pour  de'guiser  leurs  pense'es).  Talleyrand 
had  already  accepted  the  paternity  of  the  mot,  having  said, 
"  Mistrust  first  impulses,  they  are  always  good  "  (Defiez-vous  du 
premier  mouvement,  c'est  le  bori)  ;  and  he  replied  to  a  young  diplo- 
matist who  boasted  of  his  sincerity,  "  You  are  young,  sir :  learn 
that  words  were  given  to  dissimulate  thought."  Michaud,  editor 
of  the  "  Biographie  Universelle "  (articles  "  Reinhard "  and 
"  Talleyrand "),  states  positively  that  the  mot  is  Talleyrand's. 
A  modern  wit  has  said  that  a  man's  signature  is  made  to  dis- 
guise his  name. 

Whoever  may  have  been  the  author  of  the  French  mot,  the 
thought  it  contains  may  be  traced  in  literature  to  a  remote 
antiquity.  Beginning  with  Goldsmith,  who  wrote  in  "  The  Bee," 
Oct.  20,  1759,  "  The  true  use  of  speech  is  not  so  much  to  express 
our  wTauts  as  to  conceal  them ;  "  and  Young,  who  said  in  his  sec- 
ond "Satire,"  "Men  talk  only  to  conceal  the  mind,"  —  similar 


TALLEYRAND.  517 


expressions  may  be  quoted  from  Butler,  South,  Lloyd,  and  Jer- 
emy Taylor.  The  principle  that  deceit  is  justifiable  in  matters 
of  religion  prevailed  in  the  heathen  world,  Cicero's  opinion  (De 
Leyibus,  II.  and  VIII.)  being  probably  derived  from  Plato,  who 
approved  of  deceit  in  certain  cases  for  purposes  of  government ; 
and  this  doctrine  was  adopted  by  the  Fathers  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  centuries.  In  a  collection  of  moral  maxims  by  Dionysius 
Cato,-  called  "  Disticha  de  Moribus  ad  Filium,"  which  was  much 
quoted  in  the  Middle  Ages,  is  found  the  remark,  "  Sermo  hominum 
mores  et  celat  et  indicat  idem"  (The  same  words  conceal  and 
declare  the  thoughts  of  men).  —  Bk.  IV.  26.  Plutarch  had 
already  said  of  the  Sophists  that  "  in  their  declamations  and 
speeches  they  made  use  of  words  to  veil  and  muffle  their  design  " 
("  On  Hearing,"  V.)  ;  and  finally  Achilles  detests  the  man  whose 
expressed  words  conceal  his  inmost  thoughts  :  — 

"  Who  dares  think  one  thing  and  another  tell, 
My  heart  detests  him  as  the  gates  of  hell." 

POPE'S  Iliad,  IX.  412. 

It  is  the  beginning  of  the  end. 

The  answer  Talleyrand  made  to  Napoleon,  who  asked  his  opin- 
ion of  the  state  of  things  after  the  battle  of  Leipsic,  when  at  the 
close  of  three  days'  fighting  the  French  were  defeated  by  the 
desertion  of  the  Saxons :  "  It  seems  to  me,  sire,  to  be  the  begin- 
ning of  the  end  "  (//  me  parait,  Sire,  que  c'est  le  commencement  de 
la  Jiti).  —  LOCKHART  :  Life  of  Napoleon,  II.  205.  Fournier,  how- 
ever, considers  it  one  of  the  offerings  to  the  reputation  of  the 
witty  diplomatist,  who  was  often  much  astonished  at  these  com- 
pliments to  his  genius.  Those  who  are  not  disposed  to  believe 
that  this  cynical  remark  was  made  to  his  sovereign,  whose  for- 
tunes were  at  that  time  beginning  to  wane,  may  be  inclined  to 
think  that  a  current  opinion  during  the  "  Hundred  Days  "  was 
fastened  upon  Talleyrand.  If  he  found  such  sayings  just  he 
assumed  their  responsibility  without  hesitation.  The  words, 
"  That  is  the  true  beginning  of  our  end  "  ("  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,"  V.  1),  in  which  "end"  is  used  in  the  sense  of  purpose 
or  intention,  can  hardly  be  considered  a  parallel  expression. 

Talleyrand's  opinion  of  Napoleon  is  to  be  discovered  from  only 
one  or  two  remarks.  He  had  already  said  of  the  official  servants 


518  TALLEYRAND. 


of  the  Consuls  of  France,  "It  is  easy  to  see  that  they  are  not 
much  used  to  the  drawing-room ; "  and  his  aristocratic  instincts 
had  been  equally  offended  by  the  manners  of  the  First  Consul 
himself,  of  whom  he  said.  "  It  is  a  pity  that  so  great  a  man  was 
so  ill  brought  up !  "  When  Napoleon's  escape  from  Elba  was 
announced  to  the  Vienna  Congress,  Talleyrand,  who  was  present 
as  the  ambassador  of  France,  quietly  remarked,  "  The  great  char- 
latan has  out-tricked  the  little  ones."  He  made  a  witty  as  well 
as  a  complimentary  answer,  when  Napoleon  asked  him  how  he 
became  as  rich  as  he  was  reported  to  be :  "I  bought  stock  the 
day  before  the  18th  Brumaire,  and  sold  it  again  the  day  after;  " 
intimating  that  the  public  funds  rose  sufficiently  to  make  men's 
fortunes,  after  Bonaparte  had  seized  upon  the  government. 

4 

You  are  the  first  of  his  house  who  has  laid  down  his 
arms. 

To  M.  de  Montmorency,  who,  while  proposing  the  abolition  of 
titles  in  the  Constituent  Assembly,  recalled  his  own  descent  from 
the  constables  of  France. 

When  some  one  asked  him  the  address  of  the  benevolent 
Duchesse  de  Vaudremont,  Talleyrand  replied,  "  You  have  only  to 
ask  the  first  beggar  you  meet :  they  all  know  her  address."  To 
a  friend  who  complained  of  receiving  some  very  sharp  words 
from  Mine,  de  Genlis,  the  ex-bishop  of  Autun  remarked,  "  There 
are  two  sorts  of  persons  from  whom  you  may  take  an  insult 
without  being  angry,  —  women  and  bishops." 

A  young  abbe,  tutor  of  the  daughter  of  the  Due  de  Dino, 
excusing  himself  from  accepting  an  invitation  to  dine  with 
Talleyrand  on  the  ground  of  not  being  a  man  of  fashion,  drew 
forth  the  comment,  "That  man  does  not  know  his  business;' 
equivalent  to  saying,  "  He  does  not  know  how  to  rise."  The 
young  abbe  was  Dupanloup,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Orleans,  mem- 
ber of  the  Academy  and  of  the  National  Assembly  of  1871. 

Talleyrand  had  no  love  for  Napoleon's  secretary,  Maret,  after- 
wards Due  de  Bassano.  On  the  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  dis- 
aster in  Russia,  he  exclaimed,  "  How  they  exaggerate !  all  the 
baggage  said  to  be  lost,  and  M.  Maret  has  returned !  "  and  again, 
"  I  know  of  but  one  man  more  stupid  than  M.  Maret,  and  that 
is  the  Due  de  Bassano  !  " 


TALLEYRAND.  519 


Talleyrand  could  easily  turn  a  criticism  into  a  compliment. 
Thus  he  said  of  a  well-known  lady,  "  She  is  insupportable --but 
[correcting  himself]  it  is  her  only  fault." 

When  Canova  was  sent  in  1815  as  commissioner  to  remove  to 
Italy  certain  works  of  art  which  had  been  brought  to  Paris  by 
Napoleon,  and  called  himself  "  ambassador ;  "  "  He  is  mistaken, 
observed  Talleyrand :  "  he  means  packer  "  (//  se  trompe :  il  ueut 
dire  embcUleur). 

Sydney  Smith's  brother  was  praising  their  mother's  beauty; 
to  which  Talleyrand  replied,  "Then  it  was  apparently  your  father 
who  was  ugly  "  (Cfetait  done  apparemmenl  monsieur  votre  pere  qui 
n'e'taitpas  bien). 

When  you  are  nine  you  do  not  count  honors. 

When  asked  how  it  happened  that  a  lady  of  sixty  could  marry 
her  footman. 

Of  a  lady  very  decolletee  he  said,  "  Yes,  she  is  very  beautiful ; 
but  as  to  her  toilet,  it  begins  too  late  or  stops  too  soon  "  (inais 
pou?'  la  toilette,  cela  commence  trop  tard  ou  Jinit  trop  tot). 

Being  asked  if  he  was  intending  to  publish  his  memoirs,  he 
satirized  a  fashion  of  the  day  by  answering,  "  I  have  not  made 
up  my  mind :  I  only  know  that  my  cook's  reminiscences  are  in 
press." 

An  officer  who  had  kept  a  dinner-party  waiting  excused  him- 
self by  saying  that  he  had  been  detained  by  a  pekin,  which  he 
denned  as  the  name  given  in  the  service  to  every  one  who  was 
not  militaire :  "Just  as  we  say  militaire,"  suggested  Talleyrand, 
"of  any  one  who  is  not  civil." 

A  clever  woman   often   compromises  her  husband,  a 
stupid  woman  only  compromises  herself. 

In  defence  of  his  marriage  to  Mrs.  Grant,  an  Englishwoman 
who  was  not  clever.  She  had  her  mots,  but  they  were  less  happy 
than  her  husband's.  "You  will  have  at  dinner,"  said  Talley- 
rand one  day,  "  a  very  remarkable  man  :  for  Heaven's  sake,  try 
to  talk  sensibly  to  him.  He  has  written  volumes  of  travel :  you 
will  find  them  in  the  library ;  look  them  over,  and  lead  the  con- 
versation to  them.  Don't  forget  the  works  of  M.  Denon."  The 
princess  obeyed,  and  asked  the  librarian  for  the  books ;  but  she 


520  TALLEYRAND. 


had  by  this  time  entirely  forgotten  the  name  of  the  distinguished 
author.  "  Give  me,"  she  said,  "  the  voyages  of  some  one  whose 
name  ends  with  on."  The  librarian  smiled,  and  brought  her  a 
magnificent  edition  of  Robinson  (Crusoe),  which  she  devoured : 
the  umbrella,  the  hat,  the  goat-skin  suit  of  clothes,  —  nothing 
escaped  her.  At  table  she  smiled  at  the  prince,  as  much  as  to 
say,  "  Have  no  fear  of  me,"  and  turning  to  her  guest  remarked, 
"Man  Dieu,  monsieur,  what  joy  you  must  have  felt  in  your  island 
when  you  found  Friday ! "  M.  Denon  seemed  a  little  taken 
aback,  and  the  prince  saw  that  his  precautions  had  been  wasted 
on  a  woman  who  had  mistaken  a  member  of  Bonaparte's  scien- 
tific expedition  to  Egypt  for  the  hero  of  De  Foe. 

Wit  is  a  good  servant,  but  a  bad  leader  (V esprit  suit  a 
tout,  et  ne  mene  a  rien). 

Talleyrand  once  said  of  the  English,  "Us  sterlinent  leurs 
paroles;  "  which  may  mean  simply,  "Gold  rules,"  or  "They  en- 
force their  opinions  by  means  of  their  wealth." 

"  When  society  is  powerless  to  create  a  government,"  he  once 
observed,  "government  must  create  society." 

Fournier  accepts  the  guaranty  of  Sainte-Beuve,  that  Talley- 
rand is  the  author  of  the  maxim,  "  Not  too  much  zeal "  (Pas  trap 
de  zele) .  —  Critiques  et  Portraits,  III.  324. 

He  once  observed,  "  I  have  never  kept  party  fealty  to  any  one 
longer  than  he  has  himself  been  obedient  to  common-sense." 


The  wisdom  of  public  opinion. 

Fournier  discredits  all  Talleyrand's  mots  which  were  not  pub- 
licly uttered;  for  his  brother  wrote  of  him  in  1831,  that  the  only 
breviary  which  the  Bishop  of  Autun  was  in  the  habit  of  reading 
was  the  "  Improvisateur  francais,"  a  collection  of  anecdotes  and 
bons  mots  in  twenty-one  volumes,  arranged  in  alphabetical  order. 
But  to  the  following  no  such  exception  can  be  taken ;  for  it  was 
said  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  as  late  as  1821 :  "  1  know  where 
there  is  more  wisdom  than  is  to  be  found  in  Napoleon  or  Voltaire, 
or  all  the  ministers,  present  or  to  come,  —  in  public  opinion  "  (Je 
connais  quelqu'un  qui  a  plus  d'esprit  que  Napoleon,  que  Voltaire,  que 
tous  les  ministres  presents  et  futurs :  c'est  V opinion).  "  Power,"  said 
Napoleon,  "is  founded  upon  opinion." 


TALLEYRAND.  521 


The  fleecers  and  the  fleeced. 

"  Society,"  said  Talleyrand,  "  is  divided  into  two  classes,  the 
fleecers  and  fleeced:  it  is  better  to  belong  to  the  fleecers"  (La 
societe  est  partagee  en  deux  classes,  les  tondeurs  et  les  tondus:  il 
faut  toujours  etre  avec  les  premiers  contre  les  seconds). 

Col.  Richard  Rumbold,  an  English  republican,  who  was  exe- 
cuted in  1685,  after  having  been  implicated  in  the  Rye-House 
Plot,  said  on  the  scaffold,  "  I  never  could  believe  that  Providence 
had  sent  a  few  men  into  the  world,  ready  booted  and  spurred 
to  ride,  and  millions  ready  saddled  and  bridled  to  be  ridden." 

"  Society  is  now  one  polished  horde, 
Formed  of  two  mighty  tribes,  the  Bores  and  Bored." 

BYRON:  Don  Juan,  XIII.  95. 

Three  hours. 

When  asked  what  passed  in  the  Council  on  a  certain  day, 
Talleyrand  replied,  "Three  hours."  He  was  anticipated  by 
Speaker  Popham,  who,  when  Queen  Elizabeth  inquired  what 
had  passed  in  the  House  of  Commons,  replied,  "  Please  your 
Majesty,  seven  weeks." 

The  folio  wing  is  Talleyrand's  definition  of  "non-intervention:" 
"  It  is  a  metaphysical  and  political  expression  which  means  about 
the  same  as  intervention"  (C\est  un  mot  metaphysique  et  politique, 
qui  signijie  a  pen  pres  la  meme  chose  qu 'intervention).  This  was  not 
more  lucid  than  the  reply  of  Bishop  Blomfield,  to  whom  was  re- 
ferred the  question  put  by  Mr.  Joseph  Hume  to  Lord  Althorp, 
what  an  archdeacon  was  :  "  An  archdeacon,"  said  the  bishop,  "  is 
an  ecclesiastical  officer  who  performs  archidiaconal  functions." 


They  have  learned  nothing,  and  forgotten  nothing. 

Said  of  the  Bourbons  after  their  return  to  France  from  exile 
(Us  n'ont  rien  appris,  nirien  oublie').  Napoleon  repeated  it  more 
than  once  at  St.  Helena  of  the  old  noblesse,  as  well  as  of  the 
royal  family.  It  occurs  almost  literally  in  a  letter  of  the  Cheva- 
lier de  Panat  to  Mallet  du  Pan,  from  London,  near  the  Comte 
de  Provence  (afterwards  Louis  XVIII.),  January,  1796:  "How 
deceived  you  are  in  thinking  the  court  of  the  brother  [of  Louis 
XVI.]  has  a  little  reason  !  We  see  it  all,  and  groan  :  no  one  is 


522  TALLEYKAND. 


improved  ;  no  one  has  been  able  to  forget  any  thing  or  to  learn 
any  thing"  (personne  n'a  su  rien  oublier,  ni  rien  apprendre). 

One  evening  during  the  occupation  of  Paris  by  the  allied 
sovereigns,  the  Emperor  Alexander  I.  called  La  Fayette  aside  at 
a  soiree  at  Mme.  de  StaeTs,  and  complained  that  his  hopes  of 
French  liberty  had  been  deceived,  and  that  the  Bourbons  had 
only  the  prejudices  of  the  old  regime ;  when  La  Fayette  replied 
that  misfortune  might  have  corrected  (corriges)  them,  "  Corrected 
them  !  "  exclaimed  the  emperor :  "  they  are  incorriges  and  incorri- 
gibles  !  But  one,  the  Due  d'Orleans  [afterwards  Louis  Philippe], 
has  any  liberal  ideas  :  hope  nothing  of  the  rest ! "  —  LA  FAY- 
ETTE :  Memoirs. 

It  is  the  thirteenth  ! 

On  taking  the  oath  to  Louis  Philippe,  in  1830,  Talleyrand 
remarked,  sotto  voce,  "It  is  the  thirteenth!"  (C'est  le  treizieme  /) 
to  which  has  been  added,  "  Pray  God  it  may  be  the  last !  " 

What,  already  ? 

The  appropriator  of  others'  wit  was  at  last  put  to  death  him- 
self with  a  stolen  mot.  Louis  Blanc  relates  that  Louis  Philippe, 
having  called  one  morning  during  the  prince's  last  hours,  asked 
him  if  he  suffered  :  "  Yes,  comme  un  damne"  replied  Talleyrand ; 
at  which  the  king  murmured,  "What,  already?  "  (Quoi,  dcja  ?)  — 
Histoire  de  Dix  Ans,  V.  290.  M.  Blanc  adds  that  the  words  did 
not  escape  the  dying  man's  ear,  and  that  he  avenged  himself  by 
making  a  revelation  of  state  secrets  to  one  of  his  friends.  This 
mot,  however,  dates  from  1778,  not  from  1838,  and  is  told  as  the 
answer  of  a  Dr.  Bouvard  to  a  cardinal,  or  to  the  Abbe  Terray. 
M.  de  LeVis,  who  reports  it,  believes  that  the  doctor  might  have 
said  it  of  one  of  his  patients,  but  not  to  him  :  the  manners  of 
the  times  forbade  it.  So  far  from  either  of  these  accounts  being 
now  credited,  Talleyrand  himself  is  often  given  as  the  author  of 
this  celebrated  ejaculation. 

"For  money,"  said  Mirabeau  of  Talleyrand,  "he  would  sell 
his  soul ;  and  he  would  be  right,  for  he  would  in  such  case  bar- 
ter dirt  for  gold."  Carnot  declared  of  him  later,  "  That  man 
brings  with  him  all  the  vices  of  the  old  regime,  without  having 
been  able  to  acquire  a  single  virtue  of  the  new  one ;  "  and  again, 


COMMODORE   TATNALL.  523 

"  If  he  despises  all  men,  it  is  because  he  has  thoroughly  studied 
himself"  (*$"//  meprise  tons  les  homines,  c'est  qu'd  s'est  beaucoup 
e'tudic}.  Of  Talleyrand's  manner  of  negotiating  treaties,  Cha- 
teaubriand said,  "  When  he  is  pot  conspiring,  he  is  selling  him- 
self "  (Quand  M.  de  Talleyrand  ne  conspire  pas,  il  trajiquc}  ;  which 
verdict  was  confirmed  by  Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  "  Talleyrand 
was  always  in  a  state  of  treason,  but  it  was  complicity  with 
fortune."  The  emperor  used  a  classic  mot  in  speaking  of  him 
at  another  time  :  "  Talleyrand  treats  his  enemies  as  if  they  were 
one  day  to  become  his  friends,  and  his  friends  as  if  they  were  to 
become  his  enemies."  —  O'MEARA  :  Napoleon  in  Exile,  Novem- 
ber, 1816.  This  is  derived  from  the  Greek  philosopher  Bias  : 
"  Love  as  if  you  should  hereafter  hate,  and  hate  as  if  you  should 
hereafter  love."  Laberius  (107-43  B.  C.)  expresses  it  in  Latin: 
"  Amicum  ita  habeas,  posse  ut  fieri  hunc  inimicum  scias"  (Treat 
your  friend  as  if  you  knew  that  he  will  one  day  become  your 
enemy)." 

The  Earl  of  Lauderdale,  minister  to  France  in  1806,  called 
Talleyrand  "  mud  in  a  silk  stocking ; "  and  Mme.  de  Stael  hap- 
pily characterized  his  return  to  favor,  after  the  Restoration  :  "Our 
good  Maurice  resembles  the  toy-men  whose  heads  are  of  cork 
and  their  legs  of  lead  :  throw  them  how  you  will,  they  always 
fall  upon  their  feet."  James  I.  said  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  "  What- 
ever way  that  man  falls,  he  is  sure  to  alight  on  his  legs." 

JO  SI  AH  TATNALL. 

[An  American  naval  officer;  borr  in  Georgia;  entered  the  navy 
about  1810;  commanded  a  squadron  in  the  East  Indies  from  1856 
to  1859  ;  having  joined  the  Confederates,  destroyed  the  ironclad 
"  Merrimac,"  in  1862,  to  prevent  her  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Unionists;  died  1871.] 

Blood  is  thicker  than  water. 

A  proverb  which  Commodore  Tatnall  made  use  of  in  a  de- 
spatch to  the  Navy  Department,  in  June,  1859,  to  justify  his  assist- 
ance of  the  British  fleet  in  the  Peiho.  Provision  had  been  made 
in  the  treaty  of  Tien-tsin,  between  Great  Britain  and  China,  for 
the  establishment  of  a  permanent  British  embassy  at  Pekin. 
Notwithstanding  this,  the  Chinese  government  showed  such 


524  THEMISTOCLES. 


unwillingness  to  receive  the  British  ambassador,  that  the  Eng- 
lish admiral  in  command  of  the  fleet  containing  the  British  and 
French  legations  determined  to  pass  the  forts  of  the  Peiho,  and 
land  the  embassy  under  the  guns  of  his  ships.  He  was  received, 
however,  with  so  murderous  a  fire  from  the  forts,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  retire ;  an  attempt  to  silence  the  forts  by  land  being 
equally  unsuccessful.  A  note  to  the  narrative  of  the  action  in 
"  The  Annual  Register "  for  1859  mentions  "  the  friendly  con- 
duct of  an  American  steamer  during  the  conflict,  which  towed 
up  several  of  our  boats,  carried  away  men  from  the  disabled 
vessels,  and  rendered  every  assistance  to  the  wounded,  sending 
presents  of  fresh  meat  and  vegetables." 

Commodore  Tatnall  did  not,  however,  originate  the  expression 
with  which  his  name  is  often  connected.  It  is  found  in  Ray's 
"  Collection  of  English  Proverbs,"  published  in  1672 ;  and  Bohn's 
Handbook,  including  the  collections  of  Ray  and  others,  classes  it 
with  Scotch  proverbs.  Sir  Walter  Scott  makes  Dandie  Dinmont 
say,  "  Weel,  blude's  thicker  than  water  :  she's  welcome  to  the 
cheeses  and  hams  just  the  same.''  The  Germans  have  a  similar 
proverb,  "  Blut  ist  dicker  als  Wasser." 

THEMISTOCLES. 

[A  celebrated  Athenian  statesman  and  general;  born  about  574 
B.C.;  commanded  the  Athenians  after  the  victory  of  Salamis,  480; 
banished,  471;  was  kindly  treated  by  Artaxerxes,  king  of  Persia, 
where  he  died,  or  killed  himself,  about  449.] 

The  trophies  of  Miltiades  will  not  suffer  me  to  sleep. 

When  asked  why  he  did  not  join  in  the  exultation  at  the  vic- 
tory of  Miltiades  over  the  Persians  at  Marathon,  490  B.  C.  His 
life  had  hitherto  been  devoted  to  pleasure  ;  but  now,  seized  with 
an  insatiable  ambition,  he  prepared  himself  and  the  Athenians 
for  the  struggle  with  Persia  he  saw  approaching.  —  PLUTARCH  : 
Life. 

When  asked  whether  he  would  rather  be  Achilles  or  Homer ; 
"  And  pray,"  he  replied,  "  which  would  you  rather  be,  a  con- 
queror in  the  Olympic  games,  or  the  crier  who  proclaims  who 
are  conquerors?''  —  Ibid.:  Apothegms. 

Themistocles  opposed  the  proposition  of  Eurybiades,  the  Athe- 


THIERS.  525 


nian  naval  commander,  to  sail  for  the  Isthmus,  rather  than  await 
the  Persian  attack  in  the  straits  of  Salamis  :  Eurybiades  raising 
his  stick,  Themistocles  exclaimed,  "  Strike,  but  hear  me  !  "  The 
latter's  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  victory  of  Salamis  was  the 
result. 

He  preferred  an  honest  man  that  wooed  his  daughter,  to  a  rich 
man.  "  I  would  rather,"  he  said,  "  have  a  man  that  wants  money, 
than  money  that  wants  a  man." 

When  told  that  he  would  govern  the  Athenians  well,  if  he 
ruled  without  respect  of  persons,  Themistocles  replied,  "May  I 
never  sit  on  a  tribunal  where  my  friends  shall  not  find  more 
favor  from  me  than  strangers." 

Seeing  a  number  of  bracelets  and  golden  chains  upon  some 
dead  bodies  cast  up  by  the  sea,  he  said  to  a  friend,  "  Take  them  : 
%  you  are  not  Themistocles."  —  Ibid:  Life. 

To  him  is  attributed  a  mot  which  in  an  English  form  reads, 
"  If  one  showed  me  two  roads,  one  leading  to  the  Devil,  and  the 
other  to  Parliament,  I  should  choose  the  former." 

When  asked  to  touch  a  lute,  Themistocles  replied,  "  I  cannot 
fiddle,  but  I  can  make  a  small  town  into  a  great  state." 

THIERS. 

[Louis  Adolphe  Thiers,  a  French  historian  and  statesman;  born  at 
Marseilles,  April  10,  1797;  settled  in  Paris  as  a  lawyer  and  journal- 
ist, 1821;  councillor  of  state,  1830;  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Depu- 
ties; minister  of  the  interior,  1832;  member  of  the  Academy;  minister 
for  foreign  affairs,  1836  and  1840;  acted  with  the  opposition  during 
the  Second  Empire;  president  of  the  French  Republic,  1871-73;  died 
1877.] 

The  king  reigns,  but  does  not  govern  (Le  roi  regne,  il  ne 
youverne  pas). 

This  was  said  in  Latin,  the  language  of  the  Polish  and  Hun- 
garian diets,  as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
by  Jan  Zamoyski,  in  the  Polish  parliament :  "  Rex  reynat,  sed  non 
gubernat."  President  Henault  ("Memoirs,"  161)  remarked  of 
Mme.  des  Ursins,  who  was  "  the  power  behind  the  throne " 
of  Philip  V.  of  Spain,  "  She  governed,  but  did  not  reign  "  {Elle 
gouvernait,  mats  elle  ne  regnait  pas).  Thiers,  however,  gave  the 


526  THIERS. 


aphorism  its  greatest  celebrity,  by  placing  it  as  the  maxim  of 
constitutional  government  in  an  early  number  of  the  newspaper, 
"  The  National,"  which  appeared  under  the  direction  of  himself 
and  his  political  friends  six  months  before  the  dissolution  of  a 
monarchy  whose  principle  was  that  the  king  both  reigned  and 
governed.  As  developed  under  the  liberal  monarchy  which  suc- 
ceeded Charles  X.,  it  signified  that  a  responsible  ministry  should 
relieve  the  sovereign  of  that  personal  intervention  in  government 
which  had  hitherto  characterized  the  French  monarchy.  Thiers 
elsewhere  expressed  it,  "The  king  is  the  country  made  man'' 
(Le  roi,  c'est  le  pays  fait  homme).  Coleridge  advanced  the  same 
idea  in  his  ''  Table-Talk  :  "  "A  nation  is  the  unity  of  a  people. 
King  and  parliament  are  the  unity  made  visible.'' 

In  a  debate  on  the  budget  in  the  German  Reichstag,  Jan.  24, 
1882,  during  a  discussion  of  a  rescript  which  asserted  the  right 
of  the  emperor,  as  king  of  Prussia,  to  personally  direct  the 
policy  of  the  kingdom  under  the  constitution,  and  which  required 
all  officials  to  hold  aloof  during  elections  from  agitations  against 
the  government  and  its  candidates,  Prince  Bismarck  declared 
that  the  maxim,  "  The  king  reigns,  but  does  not  govern ''  (in 
German,  Der  Konig  herrscht  alter  er  regiert  7ncht),  did  not  apply 
to  Germany,  and  that  the  expression  "ministerial  responsibility'' 
was  equally  absurd. 

Alphonse  Karr  paraphrased  the  maxim :  "  The  king  reigns  like 
the  cornice  round  the  room." 

We  are  the  young  guard. 

At  his  first  meeting  with  Charles  de  Remusat,  who  became 
his  intimate  friend  and  political  associate,  and,  as  secretary  for 
foreign  affairs  in  1871-72,  aided  him  in  the  liberation  of  French 
territory  from  German  occupation.  The  advice  of  Talleyrand 
to  the  young  and  ambitious  Thiers  was,  "  You  wish  to  rise : 
make  enemies."  He  was  perhaps  thinking  of  the  saying  of 
Socrates,  "Every  man  in  his  life  has  need  of  a  faithful  friend 
and  a  bitter  enemy,  —  the  one  to  advise  him,  the  other  to  make 
him  look  about  him."  Chesterfield  wrote  to  his  son,  in  whose 
political  advancement  he  took  a  strong  interest :  "  You  have  a 
surer  way  of  rising,  and  which  is  wholly  in  your  power :  make 
yourself  necessary."  —  Letters,  Feb.  9,  1748.  When  an  article  on 


THIERS.  527 


M.  Montausier  by  young  Thiers  appeared  in  1827,  Talleyrand 
exclaimed,  "He  is  not  a  parvenu:  he  is  an  arrive!"  and  in  an- 
other version  is  said  to  have  added,  "  who  will  go  farther  than 
any  of  us/' 

"  The  man  that  makes  a  character  makes  foes." 

YOUNG  :  Epistles  to  Pope,  I.  28. 

The  determination  of  Thiers  to  enter  public  life  was  made 
early.  Even  in  the  law-school  at  Aix,  where  party  politics  ran 
high,  and  he  and  Mignet  were  the  leaders  of  the  ultra-liberal 
side,  the  former  was  wont  to  exclaim,  when  the  practicability  of 
his  doctrines  was  disputed,  "Wait  until  we  are  ministers" 
(quand  nous  serons  ministres).  He  made  use  in  1835  of  the  dis- 
tinction, "I  am  not  liberal,  but  national."  He  was  at  this  time 
an  admirer  of  the  English  as  opposed  to  the  American  form  of 
government,  and  used  to  say,  "  We  must  cross  the  Channel,  that 
we  may  not  be  obliged  some  day  to  cross  the  Atlantic  ''  (//  faut 
franchir  la  manche  pour  ri 'avoir  pas  un  jour  a  francldi  VAtlan- 
tique).  When  the  government  party,  near  the  end  of  the  reign, 
of  Charles  X.,  complained  of  the  strained  interpretation  of  the 
charter,  and  cried  out,  "  Legality  is  killing  us  !  "  Thiers  met  them 
•with  a  counter-cry,  "  We  will  kill  you  with  legality ! "  In  a 
short  time  a  three-days1  revolution  overthrew  the  Bourbons. 

The  Republic  divides  us  the  least. 

Passing  over  the  Second  Empire,  which  was  for  Thiers  a  time 
of  study  rather  than  of  action,  he  appears  as  the  advocate  of  a 
republican  form  of  government.  This  change  of  views  was 
rather  a  development  of  ideas  by  the  force  of  circumstances, 
than  a  change  of  theoretic  opinions. 

With  a  republic  itself  he  had  originally  no  sympathy ;  for  he 
said,  "  It  is  always  destined  to  end  in  imbecility  or  blood  "  (La 
re'pubiique  est  destin.ee  toujours  a  Jinir  par  Vimbdcillite,  ou  dans  le 
sang).  After  the  revolution  of  1848  he  seemed  to  despair  of  the 
future.  "It  only  remains  for  us,"  he  said,  "to  make  ourselves 
forgotten"  (77  ne  noun  rente  plus  qu'a  nous  fa  ire  oublier).  He 
looked  upon  events,  however,  with  his  usual  perspicacity;  and 
after  a  review  of  troops  at  Satory,  near  Paris,  by  the  Prince- 
President  in  1851,  a  short  time  before  the  coup  d'etat,  he  remarked 


528  THIERS. 


to  those  about  him,  "The  empire  is  a  fact"  (V 'empire  est  fait). 
"  The  man  who  never  speaks,"  as  Thiers  called  Louis  Napoleon, 
was  about  to  act. 

When  the  Second  Empire  had  fallen,  and  the  future  form  of 
government  was  discussed,  Thiers  found  that  the  republic,  pro- 
claimed without  opposition  after  the  surrender  of  Sedan,  was 
the  only  practicable  solution  of  the  problem.  Nevertheless,  he 
said  it  must  be  "  a  republic  without  republicans,"  because  the 
worst  enemies  of  French  republics  had  invariably  been  found 
among  their  most  radical  supporters.  He  was  thinking  of  a 
republic  administered  by  men,  who,  like  himself,  had  supported 
constitutional  monarchy  as  long  as  it  was  possible,  and  now 
rallied  to  what  was  known  in  1871-72  as  the  conservative  repub- 
lic ;  "  for,"  said  Thiers,  "  the  republic  will  be  conservative,  or  it 
will  not  be  at  ail "  (la  re'publique  sera  conservatrice,  ou  elle  ne  sera 
pas).  He  now  brought  into  daily  use  an  expression  he  em- 
ployed as  early  as  1849,  and  which  in  1871  was  accepted  by  men 
of  widely  different  theoretic  views  :  "  The  republic  is  the  form  of 
government  which  divides  us  the  least"  (le  gouvernement  qu'i  nous 
divise  le  mains').  How  could  it  be  otherwise  when  there  were 
three  applicants  for  any  throne  which  might  be  set  up,  — the  Im- 
perialists, the  Legitimists,  followers  of  Henri  Cinq,  and  the 
Orleanists,  who  supported  the  Comte  de  Paris,  grandson  of 
Louis  Philippe  :  "  There  is  but  one  throne,"  said  Thiers ;  "  and 
there  are  three  who  wish  to  sit  on  it,  which  is  impossible  '"  (La 
monarchic  est  impossible,  puis  qu'il  y  a  trois  dynasties  pour  un  seul 
trone) . 

Behold  the  Liberator  of  the  Territory! 

A  remarkable  scene  occurred  in  the  French  Chamber  during 
the  exciting  session  of  1877,  when  both  parties  were  arraying 
themselves  for  the  electoral  campaign  of  the  autumn.  Fourtou, 
a  member  of  the  conservative  ministry,  had,  in  the  presence  of 
Thiers,  applied  the  title  of  "  Liberator  of  the  Territory "  occu- 
pied by  the  Germans  after  the  war,  to  the  Assembly  of  1871. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  President  Thiers,  by  arrangements  with 
English  and  Continental  bankers,  after  the  success  of  a  loan  sub- 
scribed for  in  France  fourteen  times  above  the  original  call,  had 
anticipated  the  payment  of  the  immense  war  indemnity,  and 


THIERS.  529 


thus  freed  the  Eastern  departments  from  German  occupation 
before  the  time  stipulated  in  the  treaty  of  peace.  Exasperated 
that  the  services  of  the  "  Saviour  of  his  Country  "  were  ignored, 
Gambetta  rushed  to  the  space  in  front  of  the  tribune,  and, 
pointing  to  Thiers,  shouted,  "  Behold  the  real  Liberator  of  the 
Territorv ! "  The  whole  Left  and  Left-Centre  of  the  Chamber 

i/ 

rose,  and  burst  into  uncontrollable  cheering. 

In  politics  it  is  always  the  unexpected  that  happens. 

An  application  to  politics  of  the  proverb :  "  Nothing  is  so 
certain  as  the  unforeseen."  Both  are  to  be  referred  to  an  inci- 
dent in  the  war  of  the  Fronde.  When,  during  the  Conferences 
of  Bordeaux  in  1650,  Cardinal  Mazarin  found  himself  in  a  car- 
riage with  three  leaders  of  the  other  party,  he  said,  "  Who  would 
have  believed  four  days  ago  that  we  four  would  to-day  be  in  the 
same  carriage  ?  "  —  "  Oh,"  replied  the  Due  de  La  Rochefoucauld, 
"  every  thing  happens  in  France !  "  (tout  arrive  en  France  /) 

You  demand  the  impossible. 

Dr.  Yeron,  the  journalist,  once  requested  a  place  under  govern- 
ment, which  should  give  him  "consideration."  —  "  Oh,  mon  cher, 
replied  Thiers,  "  vous  demandez  {'impossible  /" 

He  did  not  entertain  a  high  opinion  of  Comte  de  Mole,  prime 
minister  of  Louis  XVIII. ;  for  he  once  said,  "I  cannot  conceive 
how  a  man  who  calls  himself  Mole  should  wish  to  be  any  thing 
but  a  keeper  of  the  seals !  "  The  count  was  overthrown  by  a 
combination  between  Guizot,  Thiers,  and  others ;  and  when  he  re- 
marked that  Thiers  in  his  place  would  do  as  he  himself  had  done, 
the  liberal  statesman  replied,  "  I  might  have  played  the  same 
tune,  but  I  should  have  played  it  better"  (c'est possible  je  jouerais 
le  meme  air,  mais  je  le  jouerais  mieux). 

Thiers  remarked  when  the  editor  of  his  paper,  the  "  Constitu- 
tionnel,"  left  it  for  a  better  position,  "M.  Bailay  is  like  a  cook: 
as  soon  as  he  has  learned  his  trade,  he  changes  his  master  "  (*7 
fait  comme  font  les  cuisinieres :  aussitot  qidl  a  su  faire  la  cuisine, 
il  a  change  de  maitre). 

He  said  of  certain  newly  appointed  ministers  who  were  accused 
of  a  lack  of  good  breeding,  "  They  believe  themselves  virtuous 
because  they  are  ill-bred." 


530  LORD   THURLOW. 


To  some  one  who  advised  him  to  answer  a  calumny,  Thiers 
replied,  "I  am  an  old  umbrella,  upon  which  the  rain  has  fallen 
for  forty  years  :  of  what  account  are  a  few  drops  more  or  less  ?  " 
(Je  suis  un  vieux  parapluie,  sur  lequel  il  pleut  depuis  quarante  ans : 
quest-ce  que  me  font  quelques  youttes  de  plus  ou  de  inoins  ?  " 

Common  sense  is  the  genius  of  our  age  (le  veritable  genie 
de  noire  epoque  consists  dans  le  simple  bon  sens). 

Goethe,  in  the  appendix  of  the  "  Wander jahre  "  ("Werke," 
XXII.  213),  quotes  the  remark  of  an  unknown  French  author, 
"  Common  sense  is  the  genius  of  humanity ''  (Le  sens  commun 
est  le  ge'nie  de  Vhumanite'}  ;  derived,  perhaps,  from  the  bon  sens  of 
Diderot,  which  he,  in  turn,  translated  from  Shaftesbury's  "  Com- 
mon Sense"  ("Characteristics,"  I.  3).  This  common  sense 
(gemein  Verstand)  Goethe  applies  to  the  solution  of  the  ordinary 
problems  [Bedilrfnisse]  of  life ;  and  its  sufficiency  for  such  pur- 
poses prompted  the  following  maxim  :  "  There  is  nothing  unrea- 
sonable which  reason  ( Verstand)  or  chance  cannot  straighten, 
nothing  reasonable  which  unreason  or  chance  cannot  warp." 

Lamartine  once  said  of  the  mobility  of  M.  Thiers'  features  in 
conversation,  "  One  can  see  him  think  through  his  skin ! "  He 
also  remarked  of  the  "  History  of  the  French  Revolution,"  "  Man 
is  in  this  history  :  God  is  not.  M.  Thiers'  history  is  a  landscape 
without  a  sky." 

LORD  THURLOW. 

[Edward  Thurlow,  an  English  lawyer  and  politician;  born  in  Nor- 
folk, 1732;  educated  at  Cambridge;  member  of  Parliament,  17G8;  so- 
licitor-general, 1770;  attorney-general,  1771;  lord  chancellor,  1778-92; 
died  180(3.] 

The  accident  of  an  accident. 

The  Duke  of  Grafton  having  reproached  Thurlow,  during  a 
debate  on  Lord  Sandwich's  administration  of  Greenwich  Hospi- 
tal, on  his  low  extraction,  the  lord  chancellor  rose  from  the  wool- 
sack, and,  advancing  towards  the  duke,  said  that  he  was  amazed 
at  his  grace's  speech ;  that  the  noble  duke  "  could  not  look  before 
him,  behind  him,  and  on  either  side  of  him,  without  seeing  some 
noble  peer  who  owes  his  seat  in  this  House  to  his  successful  ex- 


TIBERIUS.  531 


ertions  in  the  profession  to  which  I  belong.     Does  he  not 
that  it  is  as  honorable  to  owe  it  to  these  as  to  being  the  accident 
of  an  accident  ?  " 

He  said  while  lord  chancellor  that  he  was  hesitating,  in  making 
a  legal  appointment,  between  the  intemperance  of  A  and  the 
corruption  of  B  ;  adding,  "  Xot  but  what  there  is  a  deal  of 
corruption  in  A's  intemperance." 

To  the  Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV.,  Thuiiow  once 
remarked  with  great  frankness,  "  Sir,  your  father  will  continue 
to  be  a  popular  king  as  long  as  he  goes  to  church  every  Sunday, 
and  is  faithful  to  that  ugly  woman  your  mother ;  but  you,  sir, 
will  never  be  popular." 

When  a  solicitor  remarked  that  he  ought  to  know  of  a  certain 
person's  death,  because  he  was  his  client,  Thurlow  added,  "  Xo 
wonder,  when  he  was  your  client."  His  last  words  were  charac- 
teristic :  "  I'm  shot  if  I  don't  believe  I'm  dying." 

Burke  said  of  Thurlow's  obsequiousness  at  court,  and  his 
severity  in  the  House  of  Lords,  "  Thurlow  was  a  sturdy  oak  at 
Westminster,  and  a  willow  at  St.  James's." 

TIBERIUS. 

[Tiberius  Claudius  Nero,  step-son  of  Augustus;  born  42  B.C.; 
served  with  distinction  in  Spain,  Asia  Minor,  and  Germany;  adopted 
by  Augustus,  and  became  emperor  A.D.  14;  used  his  power  at  first 
with  moderation,  but  soon  abandoned  the  government  to  his  minis- 
ter Sejanus;  retired  from  Rome,  never  to  return,  26,  and  gave  himself 
up  at  Capri  to  a  life  of  profligacy  and  cruelty;  died  A.D.  37.] 

You  leave  the  setting  to  court  the  rising  sun. 

Of  the  feeling  of  the  Roman  people  towards  his  successor,  Ca- 
ligula. When  Sulla  opposed  Pompey's  triumph,  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  been  neither  consul  nor  prretor,  the  latter  bade  Kim 
consider  that  "  more  worship  the  rising  than  the  setting  sun  ;  " 
intimating  that  his  power  was  increasing,  and  Sulla's  upon  the 
decline.  Sulla  did  not  hear  what  the  "  beardless  youth  "  said ; 
but,  when  told,  admired  Pompey's  spirit,  and  cried,  "  Let  him 
triumph!" — PLUTARCH:  Life  of  Pompcy.  Shakespeare  ('•  Ti- 
mon  of  Athens,"  I.  2)  borrowed  part  of  the  saying  :  '•  Men  shut 
their  doors  against  a  setting  sun."  Garrick  wrote  an  ode  011 


532  TIBERIUS. 


the  death  of  Henry  Pelham,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  in  1742 : 
he  died  on  the  day  of  the  publication  of  Bolingbroke's  works, 
which  caused  the  poet  to  reverse  Pompey's  saying,  — 

"  Let  others  hail  the  rising  sun, 
I  bow  to  that  whose  course  is  run." 

Of  Bolingbroke  himself,  Johnson  declared,  "  He  was  a  scoun- 
drel and  a  coward,  —  a  scoundrel,  for  charging  a  blunderbuss 
against  religion  and  morality ;  a  coward,  because  he  had  not 
resolution  enough  to  fire  it  off  himself,  but  left  half  a  crown  to  a 
beggarly  Scotchman  to  draw  the  trigger  after  his  death." 

Oderint  dum  metuant. 

The  most  common  maxim  of  Tiberius  concerning  his  subjects 
was,  "  Let  them  hate  me,  provided  they  approve  of  my  conduct " 
(Oderint  (him  probent).  —  SUETONIUS  :  Life.  This  is  a  change  of 
the  line  of  the  poet  Accius  ("  Atreus  ")  "  Oderint  dum  metuant '' 
(Let  them  hate,  if  they  only  fear  me).  It  is  often  quoted  by 
Cicero,  as  in  the  orations  for  Sestius,  and  the  First  Philippic, 
and  in  "  De  Officiis  ;  "  also  by  Seneca,  in  the  treatise  "  De  Cle- 
men tia."  It  was  the  favorite  motto  of  the  emperor  Caligula. 

Tiberius  hated  his  grandson,  who  bore  the  same  name  as  him- 
self, and  said  that  "  Caligula  is  rearing  a  hydra  for  the  people 
of  Rome,  and  a  Phaeton  for  all  the  world ;  "  referring  to  the  son 
of  Helios,  the  sun-god,  who  was  allowed  to  drive  his  father's 
chariot  across  the  sky ;  but,  being  too  weak  to  control  the  horses, 
nearly  destroyed  the  earth.  This  jealousy  of  Caius  (Caligula) 
and  hatred  of  Tiberius  caused  the  emperor  often  to  exclaim, 
"  Happy  Priam,  who  survived  all  his  children  !  " 

When  asked  by  a  condemned  criminal  to  hasten  his  execution, 
and  grant  him  a  speedy  despatch,  Tiberius  replied,  "  You  and  I 
are  not  yet  friends"  (Nondum  tecum  in  gratiam  redii).  —  SUETO- 
NIUS: Life. 

Augustus  perceived  the  dangerous  qualities  which  were  later 
to  prove  so  detrimental  to  the  empire;  and,  after  a  day's  inter- 
view with  Tiberius,  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  remarked,  as 
his  stepson  left  the  room,  "  Unhappy  Roman  people,  to  be 
ground  by  the  jaws  of  such  a  slow  devourer !  "  {Miserum  populum 
Romanum,  qui  sub  tarn  lentis  maxillis  erit!)  The  comparison  was 


TIMOTHEUS.  533 


drawn  from  the  combats  of  men  and  beasts  in  the  arena.  Au- 
gustus also  said  that  lie  left  one  to  succeed  him  who  never  con- 
sulted twice  in  the  same  affair.  —  PLUTARCH  :  Apothegms. 

Tiberius  affected,  for  a  long  time,  to  refuse  the  imperial  power ; 
keeping  the  senate  in  suspense,  until  one  of  the  senators  cried 
out,  "  Others  are  slow  to  perform  what  they  promise,  but  you 
are  slow  to  promise  what  you  actually  perform."  The  cause  of 
his  long  demur  was  a  fear  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  him 
on  all  hands,  insomuch  that  he  said,  "  I  have  got  a  wolf  by  the 
ears."  —  SUETONIUS  :  Life.  It  was  a  proverb,  for  a  position  sur- 
rounded by  almost  insurmountable  difficulties,  which  Tiberius 
found  included  in  a  line  of  Terence's  "  Phormio,"  III.  3  :  — 

"  Immo  id,  quod  aiunt,  auribus  teneo  lupum." 
(More  than  that,  I  hold,  as  they  say,  a  wolf  by  the  ears.) 

TIMOTHEUS. 

[A  Greek  commander;  defeated  the  Spartan  fleet,  376  B.C.;  com- 
manded the  Athenian  army  in  Macedonia,  304;  being  unsuccessful  in 
the  Social  War,  was  condemned  to  pay  a  large  tine;  died  354.] 

Now,  Athenians,  remember  that  Fortune  had  no  part 
in  this. 

On  his  return  from  a  successful  expedition ;  because  incensed 
that  his  enemies  ascribed  his  victories  to  Fortune,  and  carica- 
tured him  as  asleep,  while  the  goddess  was  taking  cities  for  him 
with  a  net. 

TITUS. 

[Titus  Flavius  Vespasianus ;  son  of  Vespasian ;  born  A.D.  40;  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  Britain  and  Germany,  and  in  the  siege  of  Jeru- 
salem, 70;  became  emperor,  79,  and  was  called  "the  delight  of  the 
human  race;  "  died  81. J 

Diem  perdidi! 

Once  at  supper,  reflecting  that  he  had  done  nothing  for  any 
one  that  day,  he  broke  out  with  that  memorable  saying,  "My 
friends,  I  have  lost  a  day." —  SUETONIUS  :  Life. 

"  '  I've  lost  a  day  '  —  the  prince  who  nobly  cried, 
Had  been  an  emperor  without  his  crown." 

YOUNG:  Night  Thoughts,  II.  99. 


534  JOHX  HORNE   TOOKE. 

When  his  ministers  represented  to  Titus  that  he  promised 
more  than  he  could  perform,  he  replied,  "  No  one  ought  to  go 
away  downcast  from  an  audience  with  his  prince."  —  Ibid.  He 
refused  to  put  any  one  to  death,  saying  that  "  he  would  perish 
himself,  rather  than  prove  the  destruction  of  any  man." 

JOHN  HORNE  TOOKE. 

[An  English  philologist  and  politician;  born  in  London,  1736; 
educated  at  Cambridge;  wrote  the  "  Diversions  of  Parley;  "  was  the 
friend  of  John  Wilkes;  acquitted  of  treason,  1794;  member  of  Parlia- 
ment, 1801;  died  1812.] 

You  have  risen  by  your  gravity:  I  have  sunk  by  my 
levity. 

Saying  to  his  more  prosperous  brother,  that  they  had  reversed 
the  natural  order  of  things. 

"I  am  told,  Mr.  Tooke,"  said  O'Brien  to  him  on  the  hustings 
at  Westminster,  "  that  you  have  all  the  blackguards  in  London 
with  you."  —"I  am  happy  to  have  it,  sir,"  was  the  reply,  "on 
such  good  authority.  '  —  ROGERS  :  Recollections. 

CHARLES  TOWNSHEND. 

[An  English  politician,  born  1725;  entered  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, 1747;  secretary  at  war,  1701;  chancellor  of  the  exchequer, 
1766;  proposed  the  tax  of  the  American  Colonies  on  tea  and  other 
articles;  died  1767.] 

Sooner  than  make  our  colonies  our  allies,  I  should 
•wish  to  see  them  returned  to  their  primitive 
deserts. 

Speech  in  the  House  of  Commons,  December,  1765,  approving 
the  Stamp  Act. 

When  told  that  a  newly  elected  member  of  Parliament  had 

«/ 

written  on  logic  and  grammar;  "Why  does  he  come  here,"  asked 
Townshend,  "where  he  will  hear  nothing  of  either?" 

His  brother,  the  first  Marquis  Townshend,  was  superseded  as 
lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland  by  Lord  Harcourt,  who,  arriving 
unexpectedly  in  Dublin  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  found 
Townshend  at  a  drinking-party  with  some  friends.  Nothing 


TURENNE.  535 


abashed,  the  marquis  received  his  successor  with  the  words, 
"Your  lordship  has  certainly  come  among  us  rather  unexpect- 
edly, but  you  must  admit  that  you  did  not  find  us  napping." 

Burke  said  in  a  eulogy  of  the  Right  Hon.  Charles  Townshend, 
"  Great  men  are  the  guide-posts  and  landmarks  of  the  state." 

TURENNE. 

[Henri,  Vicomte  de  la  Tour  d'Auvergne  de  Turenne,  a  celebrated 
French  general;  born  at  Sedan,  Sept.  11,  1611;  gained  with  Conde 
the  victory  of  Nordlingen,  1645;  marshal  of  France,  1643;  defeated 
Conde',  who  had  joined  the  Spaniards;  invaded  Holland,  1672;  rav- 
aged the  Palatinate,  1674;  killed  at  Salzbach,  July,  1675.] 

Your  finger  is  not  a  bridge. 

To  Louvois,  the  French  minister,  who  was  pointing  out  on 
a  map  the  proper  place  to  cross  a  river.  The  story  is  told  of 
Bernhard  of  Saxe- Weimar,  the  leader  of  the  Protestants  in  the 
Thirty  Years'  War  after  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  that 
he  replied  to  Pere  Joseph,  the  confidential  agent  of  Richelieu, 
who  was  pointing  out  with  his  finger  on  a  map  certain  cities 
which  the  cardinal  expected  Bernhard  to  take,  "  Cities  are  not 
taken  with  the  finger." 

PIERRE    VERGNIAUD. 

[A  French  orator;  born  at  Limoges,  May  31,  1750;  member  of  the 
National  Assembly  and  of  the  Convention;  as  president  of  the  latter 
he  pronounced  sentence  upon  Louis  XVI. ;  arrested  with  twenty-one 
other  Girondists,  and  executed,  October,  1793. ] 

An  effort  is  made  to  consummate  the  revolution  by 
terror :  I  would  accomplish  it  by  love. 

In  the  Convention,  April  10,  1792.  Camille  Desmoulins  wrote 
to  his  wife  just  before  his  death:  "I  had  dreamed  of  a  republic 
wliich  everybody  would  have  adored  "  (J'avais  reve  d'une  re'pu- 
Uique  que  tout  le  monde  eut  adore'e}. 

Vergniaud  perceived  the  course  affairs  were  taking,  when  it 
was  too  late.  Thus  he  said  in  the  Girondist  Club  shortly  before 
his  death,  "  Citizens,  there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Revolution,  like  Saturn,  will  successively  devour  all  its  progeny, 
and  finally  leave  only  despotism  with  all  the  calamities  which  it 


536  YERGNIAUD. 


produces."  None  of  the  leaders  of  the  Jacobin  party  could  per- 
form the  task  before  it :  "  France  alone,"  he  cried,  "  can  save 
France."  AYhen  the  Girondists  awoke  from  their  dream,  Vergni- 
aud  bitterly  exclaimed,  "  We  thought  ourselves  at  Rome,  and  we 
were  at  Paris."  He  saw  that  Robespierre  had  struck  deeper: 
"My  friends,"  said  the  leader  of  the  Girondists  on  that  "last 
night  "  which  the  histories  of  a  poet  and  a  novelist  have  too 
highly  colored,  "  we  have  killed  the  tree  by  pruning  it.  It  was 
too  old.  Robespierre  cut  it."  Still  their  death  would  not  be 
useless :  "  our  blood  is  sufficiently  warm  to  fertilize  the  soil  of  the 
republic." 

When  arraigned,  October,  1793,  Vergniaud  asked,  "What  is 
now  required  to  confirm  the  republic  by  the  example  of  its 
devoted  friends?  To  die?  I  will  do  that."  It  was  said  in  the 
spirit  of  Arnold  von  Winkelried,  at  the  battle  of  Sempach,  July 
9,  1386,  who  cried  to  his  friends  and  neighbors  before  the  im- 
penetrable mass  of  Austrian  spears,  "  I  will  open  a  path  for  free- 
dom !  My  dear  and  faithful  confederates,  take  care  of  my  wife 
and  children." — ZSCHOKKE  :  History  of  Switzerland.  That  Win- 
kelried really  said  that  he  would  open  a  path  for  freedom,  is  less 
certain  than  that  he  did  open  one.  Had  he  said  it,  Biichmann 
thinks  his  loyal  countrymen  would  not  have  omitted  the  words 
in  raising  a  monument  to  him  at  Stanz  in  1865.  A  contem- 
poraneous poet,  himself  an  actor  on  the  glorious  stage  of  Sem- 
pach, has  left  an  account  of  the  fight  in  homely  verse,  which 
tells  how  Arnold  seized  an  armful  of  spears  and  gave  his  life 
away  while  he  opened  a  path  for  his  confederates.  Plence  may 
have  originated  the  story  that  he  promised  to  make  a  road  for 
freedom,  "erne  Gasse  der  Freiheit  balmen"  as  later  poets  have 


sung. 


Death  rather  than  dishonor. 

When  his  name  was  called  on  the  morning  of  his  execution, 
Vergniaud  answered,  "  Present !  If  our  blood  can  cement  liberty, 
we  welcome  you."  He  wrote  on  the  wall  of  his  cell  with  his 
blood:  " Potius  mori  quamfoedari.'' 

For  a  truthful  narrative  of  the  "last  night  of  the  Girondists," 
the  account  of  Riouffe  ("  Memoirs  d'un  detenu,"  pp.  61-63),  one 
of  those  who  survived  the  general  slaughter,  may  be  opposed 


ABBE   VERTOT.  537 


to  the  florid  descriptions  of  Thiers,  Nodier,  and  Lamartine. 
M.  Granier  de  Cassagnac,  having  in  a  "History  of  the  Girondists" 
reproduced  the  account  of  M.  de  Lamartine,  dryly  remarks,  "It 
would  be  impossible  to  add  any  thing  to  this  recital,  —  any  thing 
except  the  truth." 

ABBE   VEUTOT. 

[Rene  Aubert  de  Vertot,  a  French  historian  and  ecclesiastic;  born 
in  Normandy,  1053;  the  author  of  several  popular  historical  works; 
died  1735.] 

My  siege  is  finished- 
Being  commissioned  to  write  the  history  of  the  Order  of 
Malta,  he  sent  to  a  knight  for  facts  concerning  the  siege  of 
Rhodes:  not  receiving  them,  he  set  about  his  composition,  which 
he  had  completed  when  the  documents  arrived.  He  acknowl- 
edged their  receipt,  coolly  adding,  "  I  am  sorry,  but  my  siege  is 
finished  "  (J'en  suis  fache,  mais  mon  siege  est  fait).  This  became 
a  proverb  for  work  done  without  the  necessary  authorities. 

The  abbe  was  by  turns  a  Capuchin,  a  regular  canon,  a  Mathu- 
rin,  and  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Cluny;  having  written  his- 
tories of  the  revolutions  of  Portugal,  Sweden,  and  Rome,  the 
different  offices  he  held  in  the  Church  were  called  "  the  Revolu- 
tions of  the  Abbe  Vertot." 

VESPASIAN. 

[Titus  Flavins  Vespasianus;  born  near  Reate,  A.D.  9;  distin- 
guished himself  in  Britain;  pro-consul  of  Africa,  60;  subjected  the 
Jews,  66;  emperor,  69-79.] 

Gold  smells  not. 

Of  the  money  received  from  an  unpopular  tax  ;  in  reply  to 
Titus,  who  blamed  him  for  having  laid  it,  he  put  a  piece  of  gold, 
received  from  the  first  instalment,  to  his  nose,  and  declared  it 
did  not  smell  of  its  source.  —  SUETONIUS  :  Life.  When  a  young 
man  much  perfumed  came  to  return  thanks  for  being  appointed 
to  command  a  squadron  of  horse,  Vespasian  turned  his  head 
away  in  disgust ;  and  saying,  "  I  had  rather  you  smelt  of  garlic," 
revoked  his  commission.  —  Ibid. 


538  VICTOR  EMMANUEL  II. 

Vespasian  held  out  his  hand  to  a  deputation  offering  to  erect 
a  statue  to  him  of  the  value  of  a  million  sesterces,  saying,  "  Set 
up  the  statue  without  delay  :  the  basis  is  ready."  He  acquired  a 
reputation  for  avarice,  which  the  liberality  of  his  later  years  did 
not  efface ;  so  that,  at  his  funeral,  "  Favo,  the  principal  mimic, 
personating  him,  and  imitating,  as  actors  do,  both  his  manner  of 
speaking  and  his  gestures,  asked  aloud  of  the  procurators  how 
much  his  funeral  and  procession  would  cost ;  and,  being  answered 
ten  million  sesterces,  he  cried  out,  that  if  they  would  give  him 
but  a  hundred  thousand  ($5,000)  they  might  throw  his  body 
into  the  Tiber  if  they  would."  —  Ibid. 

It  is  related,  that,  when  asking  an  Egyptian  philosopher  to 
make  him  emperor,  Vespasian  said,  "  O  Jupiter  !  may  I  govern 
wise  men,  and  may  wise  men  govern  me ! " 

When  urged  to  move  some  columns  into  the  Capitol,  at  a 
small  expense,  by  a  mechanical  contrivance,  he  liberally  paid 
the  inventor,  but  declined  the  offer,  saying,  "  I  must  be  suffered 
to  feed  my  people."  —  Ibid. 

He  refused  to  prosecute  those  who  opposed  his  government; 
saying,  "I  will  not  kill  a  dog  that  barks  at  me." 

He  remarked  of  a  comet  that  appeared  not  long  before  his 
death,  "  This  hairy  star  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  me.  It 
menaces  rather  the  king  of  the  Parthians,  as  he  has  much  hair, 
and  I  am  bald."  —  Ibid. 

Methinks  I  am  becoming  a  god. 

He  was  "  one  of  the  great  men  who  died  jesting ;  "  for,  alluding 
sarcastically  to  the  apotheosis  of  the  emperors,  he  said  when  near 
his  end,  "  Methinks  I  am  becoming  a  god  "  (Vce, puto  deusfio).  — 
Ibid. 

VICTOR  EMMANUEL,  II. 

[Vittorio  Emanuele  II.,  king  of  Sardinia,  and  first  king  of  Italy; 
born  at  Turin,  March  14, 1820;  succeeded  his  father,  1849;  sent  a  con- 
tingent to  the  Crimean  war,  and  was  represented  at  the  Treaty  of 
Paris;  defeated  the  Austrians  by  an  alliance  with  France,  1859;  pro- 
claimed king  of  Italy,  March,  1861;  transferred  the  capital  to  Flor- 
ence, 1865;  obtained  Venetia,  1866,  and  Rome,  Sept.  20,  1870,  which 
then  became  the  capital  of  Italy;  died  Jan.  9,  1878.] 


VICTOE  EMMANUEL  II.  539 

Italy  shall  be  ! 

When,  after  the  crushing  defeat  of  Novara,  March  23,  1849, 
Charles  Albert  resigned  his  crown  and  the  cause  of  Italian  inde- 
pendence to  his  son  Victor  Emmanuel,  the  young  king  is  said 
to  have  pointed  his  sword  in  the  direction  of  the  Austrian  camp, 
exclaiming,  "  Per  Dio,  Italy  shall  be  !  "  (/' Italia  sara  !)  His  pur- 
pose at  this  time,  and  throughout  the  long  struggle,  is  summed 
up  in  one  sentence,  to  the  thought  of  which  he  remained  true : 
"  My  only  ambition  is  to  be  the  first  soldier  of  Italian  indepen- 
dence." His  ambition  was  declared  in  a  remark,  a  part  of 
which,  as  applied  to  himself,  became  proverbial :  "  I  do  not 
aspire  to  any  other  glory  -than  that  history  should  say  of  me, 
'He  was  an  honest  king'  (re  galantuomo') .  It  was  one  of 
Washington's  maxims,  "  I  hope  I  shall  always  possess  firmness 
and  virtue  enough  to  maintain,  what  I  consider  the  most  envi- 
able of  all  titles,  the  character  of  an  'honest  man.'  The  title 
of  re  galantuomo  was  first  applied  to  Victor  Emmanuel  by 
Massimo  d'Azeglio,  a  statesman,  author,  and  artist,  who  was 
prime  minister  of  Sardinia  before  Cavour  commenced  the  great 
task  of  Italian  unification,  and  eclipsed  the  renown  of  the  earlier 
patriots.  Azeglio,  however,  saw  the  magnitude  of  the  struggle 
before  them ;  and  \vheii  the  first  Italian  Parliament  met  at 
Turin,  in  1860,  had  the  courage  to  say,  amid  the  general  con- 
gratulations, "Italy  is  made,  but  who  will  now  make  the 
Italians?'"  (V  Italia  e  fatta,  ma  eld  fara  or  a  gritaliani?)  inti- 
mating that  the  freedman  was  yet  to  become  a  freeman. 
Another  mot  of  his  is  worth  recording :  "  An  honest  man 
(galantuomo)  has  the  secret  of  true  eloquence." 

My  house  knows  the  road  of  exile,  but  not  of  dis- 
honor. 

Victor  Emmanuel's  reply  to  Marshal  Radetzky,  who  endeav- 
ored to  bribe  him,  during  the  early  years  of  his  reign,  to  desert 
the  cause  of  his  country's  liberation.  When  the  Neapolitan  am- 
bassador warned  him  of  conspiracies  against  the  Austrians  in  a 
time  of  peace,  Victor  Emmanuel  proudly  declared,  "  Behind  my 
throne  there  is  neither  treason  nor  perjury." 

As  Gen.  La  Marmora  was  setting  out  with  the  Italian  con- 
tingent for  the  Crimean  war,  in  1855,  the  king  alluded  to  another 


540  MARSHAL  YILLAES. 

side  of  the  conflict  in  which  he  was  engaged,  by  saying,  half 
sadly,  "Happy  man  !  you  go  to  fight  soldiers,  I  stay  to  fight 
monks  and  nuns." 

At  the  battle  of  Palestro,  fought  against  the  Austrians,  May 
30,  1859,  when  his  soldiers  remonstrated  at  his  rash  valor,  the 
king  good-naturedly  replied,  "  Do  not  fear  :  there  is  glory  enough 
for  all !  "  He  had  announced  the  coming  war,  before  its  declara- 
tion, in  one  of  those  speeches  that  thrill  a  nation,  at  the  opening 
of  Parliament,  Jan.  10,  1859,  when  he  said,  "  While  we  respect 
treaties,  we  are  not  insensible  to  the  cry  of  anguish  that  comes 
up  to  us  from  many  parts  of  Italy."  When  he  came  to  the 
words,  "  the  cry  of  anguish "  (il  yrido  del  dolore),  the  entire 
assembly,  senators,  deputies,  and  spectators,  sprang  to  their  feet, 
and  broke  out  into  the  most  passionate  acclamations.  Twelve 
years  later  the  scene  was  repeated,  when,  on  the  27th  of  Xovem- 
ber,  1871,  the  first  king  of  united  Italy  opened  the  first  par- 
liament to  sit  in  Rome,  with  words  which  reviewed  the  entire 
struggle :  "  The  work  to  which  we  have  consecrated  our  life  is 
accomplished." 

"  There  is  one  anecdote  of  Victor  Emmanuel  which  is  very 
likely  apocryphal,"  says  a  writer  in  a  recent  number  of  "  The  Sat- 
urday Review,"  "  but  which  has  always  struck  us  as  particularly 
characteristic.  The  story  has  it,  that  the  king,  when  on  a  visit 
to  Paris,  went  into  a  shop  to  buy  a  pair  of  braces,  and  was 
addressed  with  the  inevitable  ' Et  avec  fa,  monsieur?'  (What  is 
the  next  article,  sir?)  of  the  Paris  tradesman.  'Avec  fa,  mon- 
sieur,'' he  replied,  'je  suspends  mon  pantalon.' ' 

MARSHAL   VILLAHS. 

[Claude  Louis,  Due  de  Villars,  a  French  general ;  born  1653 ; 
served  in  Flanders  ;  employed  in  diplomatic  missions  at  Vienna 
and  Munich  ;  made  several  campaigns  on  the  Rhine  ;  Marshal  of 
France,  1702  ;  subdued  the  Protestants  of  the  Cevennes,  1704  ;  lost 
the  battle  of  Malplaquet,  1709  ;  died  at  Turin,  1734.J 

Save  me  from  my  friends  ! 

The  words,  "  I  pray  God  to  deliver  me  from  my  friends  :  I  will 
defend  myself  from  my  enemies,"  were  used  by  Voltaire  of  his 
visitors  at  Ferney,  and  are  given  by  Duvernet  ("Vie  de  Vol- 


MARSHAL  VILLARS.  541 

taire,"  1798).  The  French  Ana,  however,  attribute  them  to  Mar- 
shal Villars',  on  taking  leave  of  Louis  XIV.  at  the  beginning  of  a 
new  campaign,  when  he  said,  "  Sire,  je  vais  coin/xi/tre  les  ennemis 
de  votrc  majeste,  et  je  vous  laisse  au  milieu  des  miens"  (I  am  going 
to  fight  your  enemies,  I  leave  you  in  the  midst  of  my  own). 
During  his  embassy  to  Vienna,  the  public  was  astonished  at  the 
attentions  shown  him  by  Prince  Eugene,  who  was  soon  to  oppose 
him  in  the  field.  To  all  such  Villars  said,  "  Do  you  "want  to 
know  where  Prince  Eugene's  real  enemies  are  ?  They  are  in 
Vienna,  while  mine  are  in  Versailles."  (Voulez-vous  que  je  vous 
dise  oil  sont  les  vrais  ennemis  du  Prince  Eugene  f  Us  sont  a  Vienne, 
et  les  miens  a  Versailles.} 

The  expression,  "  Save  me  from  my  friends,"  has  a  much 
greater  antiquity  than  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  Antigonus,  one 
of  the  generals  and  successors  of  Alexander  the  Great,  com- 
manded a  sacrifice  to  be  offered,  that  God  might  protect  him 
from  his  friends  :  when  asked  why  not  from  his  enemies,  he 
replied,  "  From  my  enemies  I  can  defend  myself,  but  not  from 
my  friends."  The  mot  is  proverbial  in  Italy;  and  an  inscription 
set  into  a  wall  on  the  road  from  Nice  to  Villa  Franca  is  quoted 
by  Biichmann :  — 

"  Da  chi  mi  fido 

Guard!  mi  Dio 

Da  chi  non  ini  fido 

Mi  guardero  lo." 

(From  him  whom  I  trust,  may  God  defend  rne;  from  him  whom  I 
trust  not,  I  will  defend  myself.) 

The  same  verse  was  found  by  a  German  traveller  scratched 
on  the  wall  of  the  Pozzi  dungeons  under  the  Doge's  palace  in 
Venice ;  and  Kant  ("  Allgemeine  Literaturzeitung,"  1799,  No. 
109)  claims  an  Italian  origin  for  the  proverb :  it  is,  however, 
found  (in  the  form  "  I  can  defend  myself  from  my  enemies,  but 
not  from  my  friends  ")  in  a  volume  of  Arabian  moral  maxims 
by  Honein  ben  Isaak,  who  died  A.D.  873,  and  whose  works  were- 
translated  into  Hebrew  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Ovid  applies 
a  Latin  form  of  the  proverb  to  the  fears  of  a  lover  :  — 

"  Heu  facinus  !  non  est  hostis  metuendus  amanti; 
Quos  credis  fidos,  effuge:  tutus  eris." 

Wallenstein,  who  declared  of  Stralsund,  "  I  will  have  the  city, 


542  MARSHAL  YILLAES. 

though  it  were  bound  with  chains  of  adamant  to  heaven,"  says 

**j  *  t/ 

it  is  the  friend's  zeal,  not  the  foeman's  hate,  which  overthrows 
him  :  — 

"  Der  Freunde  Eifer  ist's,  der  micli 
Zu  Grunde  richtet,  nicht  der  Hass  der  Feinde." 

WALLENSTEIN'S  Tod,  III.  16. 

An  English  poet  applies  it  to  the  flatterers  :  — 
• 

"  Greatly  his  foes  lie  dreads,  but  most  his  friends: 

He  hurts  the  most  who  lavishly  commends." 

CHURCHILL:  Hie  Apology,  19. 

Sir  Robert  Peel  quoted  Canning's  lines  in  reply  to  an  attack 
by  Mr.  Disraeli :  — 

"  Give  me  the  avowed,  erect,  and  manly  foe; 
Firm  I  can  meet,  perhaps  can  turn,  the  blow: 
But  of  all  plagues,  good  Heaven,  thy  wrath  can  send, 
Save  me,  oh,  save  me,  from  a  candid  friend!  >: 

v 

Disraeli  turned  the  quotation  against  his  antagonist  by  allud- 
ing to  the  political  relations  which  had  existed  between.  Canning 
and  Peel:  "We  all  admire  his  [Canning's]  genius;  we  all,  at 
least  most  of  us,  deplore  his  untimely  end ;  and  we  all  sympathize 
with  him  in  his  fierce  struggle  with  supreme  prejudice  and  sub- 
lime mediocrity — with  inveterate  foes  and  with  'candid  friends.' ' 

"  Sidonia,"  wrote  Disraeli  in  "  Coningsby,"  "has  no  friends. 
No  wise  man  has.  What  are  friends  ?  Traitors." 

Venddme  was  inimitable. 

When  the  deputies  of  Provence  brought  Yillars  a  present  of 
twenty  thousand  livres  in  a  handsome  purse,  and  said,  "The  Due 
de  Yendome,  your  predecessor,  contented  himself  with  the  purse," 
the  marshal  took  both,  saying,  "  I  believe  you,  but  Vendome  was 
inimitable  '*  (Je  le  crois,  mais  Vendome  e'tait  un  homme  inimitable). 

The  marshal  used  to  say  in  his  old  age,  "  My  greatest  delights 
•were  to  win  prizes  in  school,  and  battles  in  the  field." 

Mine,  de  Yillars  did  not  like  her  appointment  as  dame  d'lionneur 
to  the  wife  of  Philip  Y.,  the  grandson  of  Louis  XIY.,  who  was 
made  king  of  Spain  (v.  Louis  XIY.,  p.  348).  She  accordingly 
said,  "  It  is  only  in  France  that  one  builds  chateaux  en  Espagne." 
The  Duchess  of  Newcastle,  who  wrote  novels  and  plays  in  the 


VITELLIUS.  543 


time  of  Charles  IT.,  having  asked  Bishop  Wilkins  how  she  could 
get  to  the  moon  without  being  able  to  stop  on  the  way,  his  lord- 
ship replied,  "  Your  Grace  has  built  so  many  castles  in.  the  air 
that  you  could  not  fail  to  find  one  to  rest  in." 

AULT7S   VITELLIUS. 

[Emperor  of  Rome;  born  about  15  A.D.;  commanded  the  German 
legions,  and  proclaimed  emperor  after  the  death  of  Galba;  having 
defeated  the  partisans  of  Otho,  was  himself  put  to  death  by  Vespa- 
sian's general  Antonius,  A.D.  69.] 

The  dead  body  of  an  enemy  always  smells  sweet. 

Riding  over  the  field  of  Bedriacum,  a  few  days  after  the  battle 
which  gave  him  the  empire,  April  14,  69;  to  this  detestable 
remark  he  added,  "  especially  of  a  fellow-citizen  "  (et  melius  civis). 
—  SUETONIUS:  Life.  His  vices  and  cruelty  having  made  him 
universally  hated,  he  was  dragged  out  of  his  palace  and  along  the 
Via  Sacra  by  the  soldiery  of  Vespasian,  subjected  to  the  most 
contemptuous  indignities,  put  to  death  by  lingering  tortures,  and 
dragged  by  a  horse  into  the  Tiber.  His  last  words  were,  "  Yet  I 
was  once  your  emperor." 

VOLTAIRE. 

[Francois  Marie  Arouet,  who  assumed  the  name  of  Voltaire;  born 
near  Sceaux,  Nov.  21,  1094;  educated  in  Paris;  confined  for  a  year  in 
the  Bastille,  1717,  where  he  wrote  the  "  Henriade  "  and  "  CEdipus;  " 
visited  England,  172C;  wrote  "The  Life  of  Charles  XII.,"  1730; 
elected  to  the  Academy,  1746;  lived  at  the  court  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  1750-53;  established  himself  at  Ferney,  near  Geneva,  1755; 
visited  Paris,  1778,  where  he  died  May  30.] 

The  kingdom   of    heaven    must  have  fallen  into  re- 
gency. 

Voltaire  was  put  into  the  Bastille  for  libelling  the  regent  and 
his  family.  The  Due  de  Brancas,  having  obtained  his  release, 
October,  1718,  took  him  to  the  palace  to  thank  the  prince.  Be- 
ing obliged  to  wait  a  long  time,  Voltaire  amused  himself  by  look- 
ing out  of  the  window ;  and  seeing  rain,  snow,  and  hail  falling 
together,  turned  to  the  duke  with  the  remark,  "In  such  weather  as 
this,  sir,  would  not  one  say  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  had  also 


544  VOLTAIRE. 


fallen  into  regency  ?  "  (Monsieur,  en  voyant  un  pareil  temps,  ne 
dirait-on  pas  que  le  del  est  aussi  tombe  en  rcgence  ?)  The  regent 
told  him  to  be  careful,  and  he  would  take  care  of  him ;  to  which 
the  poet  coolly  replied, ."  I  should  find  it  very  good  if  his  Majesty 
should  be  pleased  henceforth  to  charge  himself  with  my  board, 
but  I  beg  your  Royal  Highness  not  to  trouble  yourself  further 
with  my  lodging." 

Here  is  a  letter  which  will  never  reach  its  address. 

In  1722  Voltaire  was  sent  on  a  diplomatic  mission  to  Holland, 
and  met  in  Brussels  the  French  poet  Jean  Baptiste  Rousseau, 
who  handed  him  an  ode  or  poem  on  "  Immortality. "  The  weak 
production  drew  from  Voltaire  the  comment,  "  Voila  une  lettre  qui 
n'arrivera  jamais  a  son  adresse"  A  gentleman  who  had  written  a 
tragedy  told  Sheridan  that  Cumberland  had  offered  to  write  a 
prologue  to  it ;  "  and  perhaps,"  he  added,  "  Mr.  Sheridan  would 
not  object  to  supply  an  epilogue."  "  Trust  me,  my  dear  sir,"  he 
replied,  "  it  will  never  come  to  that. " 

Years  after  their  meeting  at  Brussels,  Voltaire  said  of  Rous- 
seau, "  He  despises  me  because  I  sometimes  neglect  to  rhyme,  and 
I  despise  him  because  he  knows  nothing  except;  to  rhyme." 

Voltaire  made  more  than  one  visit  to  Holland,  where  he 
brought  out  his  "  Henriade,"  and  mixed  in  polite  society.  Xev- 
ertheless,  he  joined  the  canals,  ducks,  and  rabble  of  that  country 
in  one  farewell,  the  alliterative  form  of  which  cannot  be  preserved 
in  English:  "Adieu,  canaux,  canards,  canaille!'' 

1  begin  my  name,  the  Chevalier  de  Rohan  ends  his. 

At  a  dinner  at  the  Due  de  Sully's,  in  December,  1725,  Vol- 
taire contradicted  the  Chevalier  de  Rohan-Chabot,  M'ho  asked 
who  that  young  man  was  who  talked  with  so  much  assurance  (si 
havt) :  "  I  am  the  first  of  my  name,"  replied  the  poet,  "  you  are 
the  last  of  yours ; "  or,  as  also  given,  "  I  do  not  trail  after  me  a 
great  name,  but  I  do  honor  to  the  name  I  bear."  The  guests 
applauded  the  poet,  and  the  chevalier  left  the  table.  The  next 
day  Voltaire  wTas  called  to  a  carriage  in  front  of  the  Due  de 
Sully's  house,  and  as  he  stepped  into  it  was  beaten  by  four  of 
the  chevalier's  lackeys ;  which  caused  the  Bishop  of  Blois  to  say, 
"  How  unfortunate  we  should  be  if  poets  had  no  shoulders ! " 


VOLTAIRE.  545 


(Nous  ser'wns  lien  mallicureux  si  les  poetcs  n'avaient  point  (Ve'paules.) 
When  Voltaire  appealed  to  the  regent  for  justice,  the  latter  dryly 
remarked,  "  It  has  been  done  you  "  (On  vous  Uafaite).  The  poet 
then  attempted  to  vindicate  himself  by  challenging  the  chevalier, 
and  was  shut  up  in  the  Bastille.  During  his  captivity  of  fifteen 
days,  he  asked  the  lieutenant  of  police  what  was  done  with  people 
who  forged  lettres  de  cachet;  he  replied  that  they  were  hanged. 
"That  is  right,"  said  Voltaire,  "in  anticipation  of  the  time 
when  those  who  sign  genuine  ones  shall  be  served  in  the  same 
way." 

Sir,  had  you  been  but  a  gentleman,  I  should  not  have 
visited  you. 

To  Congreve,  who  replied  to  Voltaire's  salutation  as  a  drama- 
tist of  wit  and  imagination,  "  I  am  not  an  author,  sir :  I  am  a 
gentleman."  Congreve,  at  the  time  of  Voltaire's  visit  to  England, 
was  an  old  man,  retired  with  pensions,  and  disposed  to  speak 
contemptuously  of  his  literary  achievements. 

Other  sayings  of  Voltaire's  date  from  this  visit  to  England. 
Thus  he  said  of  their  parliamentary  elections,  "  The  English  go 
mad  once  every  seven  years."  He  compared  the  people  to  their 
own  beer,  ;'  froth  on  top,  dregs  at  the  bottom,  the  middle  excel- 
lent." "  The  hangman,"  he  said,  "should  write  their  history,  for 
he  has  usually  settled  their  disputes.''  He  wrote  in  a  letter:  "If 
there  were  but  one  religion  in  England,  its  despotism  would  be 
formidable ;  if  there  were  only  two,  they  would  throttle  each 
other :  but  there  are  thirty,  and  they  live  happily  and  peaceably." 
The  Marquis  Caraccioli,  Neapolitan  ambassador  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, said,  "  There  are  in  England  sixty  different  religious  sects, 
and  only  one  gravy  (melted  butter)"  (II  y  a  en  Angleterre  soi- 
xante  secies  religieuses  differentes,  et  une  seule  sauce).  This  re- 
sembles Talleyrand's  remark  that  he  found  in  the  United  States 
thirty-two  religions  and  but  one  course  at  dinner  (plaf).  The 
marquis  also  said  of  England,  "  The  only  fruit  that  ripen  there 
are  apples,  for  they  are  roasted."  But  this  was  more  pointedly 
expressed  by  a  Frenchman,  the  Comte  de  Lauraguais,  who  said, 
on  his  return  from  a  first  trip  to  England,  that  he  found  there 
"no  ripe  fruit  but  baked  potatoes,  and  nothing  polished  (poll)  but 
steel." 


546  VOLTAIRE. 


Is  Trajan  pleased? 

On  the  return  of  Louis  XY.  from  the  battle  of  Fontenoy, 
November,  1745,  Voltaire  produced  an  opera  called  "  The  Tem- 
ple of  Glory,"  in  which  the  king  was  represented  as  Trajan 
giving  peace  to  the  world,  and  receiving  the  crown  denied  to 
conquerors  but  reserved  to  the  heroic  friends  of  humanity.  The 
piece  was  successful;  and,  as  Louis  passed  out,  Voltaire  asked 
the  Due  de  Richelieu,  in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  the 
king,  "Is  Trajan  pleased?"  {Trajan,  ext-il  content?)  Less  flat- 
tered by  the  comparison  than  offended  by  the  familiarity  of  a 
poet  he  had  never  liked,  the  French  Trajan  turned  his  back  upon 
Voltaire  without  a  word.  It  was  perhaps  because  the  Due  de 
Richelieu  did  not  suggest  a  reply.  At  a  time,  says  Fournier, 
when  wit  was  every  thing  and  good  sense  nothing,  when  a  clever 
mot  expiated  a  foolish  action,  any  thing  could  be  allowed  in  a 
king  of  France,  except  silence.  Wit  was  one  of  the  necessary 
articles  of  his  trade,  and  Louis  XV.  lost  a  part  of  his  popularity 
in  not  taking  pains  to  be  provided  with  it.  At  one  time,  accord- 
ing to  Chamfort,  the  plan  of  a  full  court  which  the  king  was  to 
hold  was  presented  to  him.  Every  thing  was  arranged  between 
Louis,  Mine,  de  Pompadour,  and  the  ministers.  The  replies 
which  the  king  was  to  make  were  dictated  to  him ;  and  the  en- 
tire proceeding  was  explained  in  a  written  programme,  where 
can  be  read,  "  Here  the  king  will  look  stern  ;  here  his  Majesty's 
brow  will  become  smooth  again ;  here  the  king  will  make  such 
and  such  a  gesture,"  etc.  The  programme  is  still  in  existence. 
• —  (Eucres  Choisies,  p.  46. 

The  king's  only  answer  to  an  application  of  Voltaire  to  visit 
Frederick  the  Great  was,  "My  kingdom,  will  then  contain  one 
fool  less/' 

I  think  I  advised  you  to  go  on  living,  if  only  to  enrage 
those  who  pay  you  annuities. 

In  a  letter  to  Mme.  du  Deffand,  1754.  He  also  said  of  him- 
self in  April  of  that  year,  "As  soon  as  I  feel  the  symptoms  of 
an  indigestion,  I  say  to  myself,  '  Three  or  four  princes  will  gain 
by  my  death. " 

In  the  year  1755,  when  he  settled  at  Geneva,  he  bought  a  bear ; 
and,  having  heard  that  a  priest  had  written  a  book  justifying 


VOLTAIRE.  547 


the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  and  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  Day,  he  wrote  :  "  Send  me  that  abominable  book, 
and  I  will  put  it  into  my  bear's  cage." 

Perhaps  we  were  both  mistaken. 

During  his  stay  at  "  Les  Delices,"  in  Geneva,  Voltaire  was 
visited  by  the  Italian  Casanova,  who  said,  in  answer  to  his  host's 
praise  of  Haller,  that  the  Bernese  savant  did  not  return  the  com- 
pliment by  speaking  well  of  Voltaire.  "  Perhaps  we  were  both 
mistaken,"  was  the  simple  reply  (Peut-ztre  nous  nous  trompons 
tons  les  deux}. 

Theano,  the  priestess  of  Delphi,  told  Timseonides,  who  had 
often  reviled  her,  that,  notwithstanding  his  unkindness,  she 
always  spoke  well  of  him,  but  had  the  luck  still  to  find  that 
her  panegyric  had  the  same  fate  with  his  satire,  —  to  be  equally 
discredited.  —  STERNE  :  Koran.  Prior  derived  an  epigram  from 
this :  — 

"  You  always  speak  ill  of  me, 
I  always  speak  well  of  thee; 
But,  spite  of  all  our  noise  and  pother, 
The  world  believes  not  one  nor  t'other." 

Ecrasez  1' in  fame! 

At  the  time  of  his  settlement  at  Ferney,  Voltaire  began  to  use 
the  expression  which  has  become  famous,  "  Ecrasez  le  fantome, 
ecrasez  le  co'losse"  and  finally,  "  ecrasez  I'infdme."  Thus  to  d'Alem- 
bert  he  wrote,  "  Courage :  continue,  you  and  your  colleagues, 
[of  "  The  Encyclopaedia "]  to  overthrow  the  hideous  phantom, 
enemy  of  philosophy  and  persecutor  of  philosophers."  —  PAR- 
TON  :  Life,  II.  284;  and  again,  "To  overthrow  the  colossus,  only 
five  or  six  philosophers  who  understand  one  another  are  neces- 
sary ; "  then  he  explained  his  meaning :  "  The  object  is  not  to 
hinder  our  lackeys  from  going  to  mass  or  sermon :  it  is  to  rescue 
fathers  of  families  from  the  tyranny  of  impostors,  and  to  inspire 
the  spirit  of  tolerance."  He  then  adopted  "Ecrasez  Vinfame"  as 
his  motto,  writing  it  first  to  d'Alembert,  June  23,  1760 :  "  I  end 
all  my  letters  with  'Crush  the  infamous  thing,'  just  as  Cato 
always  said,  '  Such  is  my  opinion,  and  Carthage  must  be  de- 
stroyed. ' :  Then  he  defines  it  more  clearly :  "  I  want  you  to 


548  VOLTAIRE. 


crush  the  infamous  thing,  that  is  the  main  point.  It  is  necessary 
to  reduce  it  to  the  state  in  which  it  is  in  England ;  and  you  can 
succeed  in  this  if  you  will."  "By  the  infcime,"  he  wrote  to 
d'Alembert,  "  you  will  understand  that  I  mean  superstition :  as 
for  religion,  I  love  and  respect  it  as  you  do  "  (vous pensez  bien,  que 
je  ne parle  que  de  la  superstition;  car  pour  la  religion,  je  Vaime  et 
la  respecte  comme  vous).  A  quotation  from  a  letter  of  d'Alembert 
to  Voltaire,  May  4,  1762,  shows  that  infdme  was  understood  by 
them  to  be  of  the  feminine  gender,  agreeing  with  chose  under- 
stood: " Ecrasez  Vinfame,  me  repttez-vous  sans  cesse.  Ah,  mon 
Dieu,  laissez-LA  se  precipiter  ELLE-meme,  ELLE  y  court  plus  vite  que 
vous  ne  pensez." 

Deo  erexit  Voltaire. 

The  parish  church  of  Ferney  being  small  and  old,  Voltaire 
resolved  to  build  a  new  one  in  a  less  inconvenient  place.  As  he 
claimed  that  there  was  no  church  dedicated  to  God,  although 
many  to  the  saints,  he  inscribed  over  the  door,  "  Deo  solo "  (To 
God  alone),  which  he  afterwards  changed  to  "Deo  erexit  'Vol- 
taire '  (Voltaire  erected  it  to  God).  He  caused  a  tall,  ungainly 
crucifix  in  the  churchyard  to  be  removed ;  the  cure'  of  a  neigh- 

u  *-* 

boring  village  asserting  that  Voltaire  said  of  it,  "  Take  away  that 
gibbet  "  (potence),  while  Voltaire  claimed  to  have  used  the  word 
"post"'  (poteau).  The  crucifix,  re-decorated,  was  set  up  inside 
the  church.  As  two  travellers  once  stood  with  Voltaire,  looking 
at  the  golden  letters  of  the  inscription ;  "  That  is  a  fine  word 
(erexit),"  said  one  of  them,  "between  two  great  names,  but  is  it 
the  proper  term  ?  "  Voltaire,  having  explained  its  significance, 
showed  them  his  tomb  built  out  from  the  wall  of  the  church. 
"  The  wicked  will  say,"  he  added,  ".that  I  am  neither  inside  nor 

*/  ' 

outside."  —  PARTON  :  Life,  II.  351.  In  this  church  Voltaire 
communed  on  Easter,  1768,  and  addressed  the  congregation. 

I  have  been  for  fourteen  years  the  innkeeper  of  Eu- 
rope. 

Said  by  Voltaire  in  reference  to  the  hospitality  he  exercised 
at  Ferney,  where  he  was  visited  by  travellers  from  all  parts  of 
Europe,  and  where,  as  has  already  been  said  (y.  Villars),  he 
prayed  "to  be  delivered  from  his  friends."  To  one  guest,  the 


VOLTAIRE.  549 


Abbe  Coyer,  who  announced  his  intention  of  staying  six  weeks, 
Voltaire  proposed  the  conundrum,  "  Why  are  you  like  Don  Quix- 
ote ?  "  the  answer  to  which  was,  "  He  took  the  inns  for  chateaux, 
you  take  the  chateaux  for  inns"  (//  prenait  les  aube ryes  pour  dc* 
chateaux,  et  vous  prenez  les  chateux  pour  des  auberges).  The  abbe 
took  the  hint,  and  departed  the  next  day.  When  another  wor- 
shipper compared  him  to  the  great  candle  which  lights  the 
universe ;  "  Mine.  Denis,"  exclaimed  the  host,  "  go  quick  and  get 
a  pair  of  snuffers  !  " 

Voltaire  was  once  urged  to  take  his  turn  with  some  guests  in 
telling  stories  of  robbers.  So  he  began,  "  Ladies,  once  upon  a 
time  there  was  a  farmer-general.  By  my  faith,  I  have  forgotten 
the  rest."  His  story  was  considered  the  best ;  the  character  of 
the  farmers-general,  or  officers  who  farmed  the  French  revenues 
previous  to  1789,  being  appreciated. 

He  said  to  Dr.  Charles  Burney,  who  visited  him  in  1770, 
"  When  critics  are  silent,  it  does  not  so  much  prove  the  age  to  be 
correct  as  dull." 

Being  asked  how  old  he  thought  the  world  to  be,  he  replied, 
"  I  know  not :  the  world  is  an  old  coquette,  who  conceals  her 


age. 


"  We  are  here,"  he  said  to  Dr.  Sherlock,  in  1776,  "  for  liberty 
and  property." 

Make  wigs,  always  wigs,  nothing  but  wigs. 

About  the  year  1760,  a  wig-maker  named  Andre  wrote  a  five- 
act  tragedy  entitled  "The  Earthquake  of  Lisbon."  He  sent  it 
to  Voltaire,  whom  he  addressed  as  his  "dear  confrere"  asking 
him  to  cast  his  eye  over  it.  Amused  at  this  singular  assumption 
of  confraternity,  Voltaire  returned  a  letter  of  four  pages  con- 
taining these  words  repeated  one  hundred  times  :  "  Master  Andre, 
make  wigs,  always  wigs,  nothing  but  wigs  "  (faites  des  perruquesy 
toujours  des  perruques,  rien  que  des  perruques).  The  wig-maker 
maintained  that  Voltaire  was  growing  old,  for  he  began  to  repeat 
himself. 

Voltaire  once  said  of  a  miserable  cart-horse,  "  His  ancestors 
must  have  eaten  of  the  forbidden  grain."  To  a  soi-disant  philos- 
opher who  advanced  the  theory  that  animals  have  a  notion  of 
right  and  wrong,  Malebranche  replied,  "  It  must  be  because  they 


550  VOLTAIRE. 


have  eaten  of  the  forbidden  hay ''  (C'est  qu'apparement  Us  out 
mange  du  foin  dc'fendii). 

Being  asked  the  difference  between  the  good  and  the  beautiful, 
Voltaire  said,  "  The  good  has  need  of  proof,  the  beautiful  speaks 
for  itself"  (Le  bon  a  besoin  depreuves,  le  beau  n 'en  demande  point). 

He  once  remarked  of  some  authors  who  were  too  fond  of  epi- 
thets, "  Why  will  they  not  understand  that  the  adjective  is  the 
greatest  enemy  of  the  substantive,  even  when  it  agrees  with  it  in 
gender,  number,  and  case  ?  '  "  Taste,"  he  said,  "  is  not  to  be 
hastily  acquired." 

While  the  negative  side  of  the  question  of  the  existence  of 
God  was  being  hotly  maintained  at  his  table,  Voltaire  ordered 
the  servants  out  of  the  room.  Pie  explained  it  by  saying,  "  I  do 
not  wish  my  valet  to  cut  my  throat  to-morrow  morning." 

Tyrants  never  sleep ! 

When  his  servant  observed  that  it  was  too  late  to  awake 
Lekain,  who  had  played  the  part  of  Polyphonte,  the  usurper,  in 
"  Me'rope,"  and  whose  part  Voltaire  wished  to  change  at  once  by 
the  addition  of  new  lines. 

When  the  populace  takes  to  reasoning,  all  is  lost. 

Letter  to  his  friend  Damilaville,  April  1,  1766  (Quand  la  popu- 
lace se  mele  de  raisonner,  tout  est  perdu). 

Entering  Paris  on  one  occasion  secretly,  he  was  asked  at  the 
barrier  if  he  had  any  thing  contraband  with  him :  "  Nothing 
but  myself,"  he  replied  (//  n'y  a  que  moi  ici  de  contraband e). 

"  I  would  rather  entertain  myself,"  he  once  said,  "  with  lively 
dead  folk,  than  with  the  dead  alive." 

He  called  soldiers,  "  Alexanders  at  five  sous  a  day." 

I  have  no  sceptre,  but  I  have  a  pen. 

In  a  letter  to  d'Alembert.  As  edition  after  edition  of  his 
works  appeared,  he  said,  "  I  am  the  same  as  dead,  they  are  sell- 
ing my  effects  "  (Je  me  regarde  comme  mort,  on  vend  mes  meubles)  ; 
and  again,  "  I  have  too  much  baggage  to  take  to  posterity  "  (On 
lie  va  point  a  la  posterite  avec  un  si  gros  bagage). 

He  wrote  to  Damilaville,  April  5,  1765,  of  the  opposition  of 
the  government  to  "  The  Encyclopaedia :  "  "  Twenty  volumes  folio 


VOLTAIRE.  551 


will  never  cause  a  revolution :  it  is  the  little  portable  volumes  of 
thirty  sous  that  are  to  be  feared.  If  the  gospel  had  cost  twelve 
hundred  sesterces,  the  Christian  religion  would  never  have  been 
established." 

When  Fontenelle  said  to  him,  "  Your  style  is  too  forcible,  too 
lofty,  too  brilliant,  for  tragedy ;  "  Voltaire  replied,  "  Then  I  must 
study  your  pastorals  again"  (Je  vais  done  retire  vos  pastorales}. 

Voltaire  gave  this ,  advice  to  Helvetius,  then  a  young  man : 
"  Do  vou  wish  an  infallible  rule  for  verse  ?  Here  it  is  :  See  if 

t/ 

your  thought,  as  you  have  written  it  in  verse,  is  beautiful  in 
prose  also." 

He  called  La  Harpe  "an  oven  which  is  always  hot,  but  never 
bakes  "  (C'<?.s£  un  four  qui  toujours  cliaujfe,  et  oil  rien  ne  cuit). 

Of  the  author  of  a  book  called  "  The  Soul  of  Beasts,"  Voltaire 
said,  "  He  is  an  excellent  member  of  society,  but  not  sufficiently 
acquainted  with  the  history  of  his  species." 

He  asked  a  gentleman  who  addressed  a  toad  as  Freron,  a  litte- 
rateur whom  Voltaire  hated,  "  What  has  that  poor  animal  done, 
that  you  should  abuse  it  in  such  a  fashion  ?  " 


It  is  necessary  to  economize  in  order  to  be  liberal. 

Thus  Cicero  ("  Paradoxa ")  said,  "  Frugality  is  a  great  reve- 
nue" (Mayna  est  vectigal  parsimonia) .  The  motto  of  Epicurus 
was,  "  Abstain  in  order  to  enjoy." 

Ideas  are  like  beards  :  children  and  women  never  have 
them. 

« 

"  Women  seem  to  be  incapable  of  ideas,"  said  Goethe :  "  they 
appear  to  me  quite  like  Frenchmen.  They  certainly  take  from 
men  more  than  they  give."  To  Blemer,  who  quotes  Falk, 
"Frenchmen  are  the  women  of  Europe."  —  Mittheilungen  uber 
Goethe,  II.  707. 

Being  asked  for  a  definition  of  metaphysics,  Voltaire  said, 
"  It  is  when  he  who  listens  understands  nothing,  and  he  who 
speaks  understands  as  little "  (Quand  celui  qui  ecoute  rfentend 
rien,  et  celui  qui  parle  n'entend  plus,  c'est  metapliysique} .  Fonte- 
nelle said  of  the  same  subject,  "  During  the  first  year  that  Made- 
moiselle and  I  occupied  our  time  with  metaphysics,  we  understood 
each  other,  and  everybody  understood  us;  the  second  year,  we 


552  VOLTAIRE. 


alone  understood  each  other ;  the  third  year,  neither  of  us  under- 
stood the  other."  " Metaphysics,"  said  Robert  Hall,  "yield  no 
fruit." 

i 

The  more  happy  I  am,  the  more  I  pity  kings. 

"Written  in  English  to  Lord  Keith,  Oct.  4,  1759.  At  another 
time  he  said,  "  The  thing  in  the  world  which  it  is  perceived  that 
one  can  most  easily  do  without  is  an  emperor." 

He  wrote  to  Theriot  that  with  himself  "great  men  ranked 
first,  heroes  last :  I  call  great  men  all  those  who  have  excelled  in 
the  useful  or  the  agreeable."  It  was  to  Theriot  that  he  said, 
"  I  envy  the  beasts  two  things,  —  their  ignorance  of  evil  to  come, 
and  their  ignorance  of  what  is  said  of  them." 

If  I  had  a  hundred  bodies,  I  should  weary  them  all. 

He  wrote  to  Helvetius :  "  The  body  of  an  athlete  and  the  soul 
of  a  sage,  —  these  are  what  we  require  to  be  happy." 

"  Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano." 

JUVENAL:  Satires,  X.  357. 

"We  bow,  but    do  not  speak  (Nous  nous  saluons,  mais  nous 
ne  parlous  pas). 

To  one  of  his  friends,  who  noticed  that  he  saluted  the  passing 
Host,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  become  reconciled  to  the  Church. 

Life  is  thick  sown  with  thorns,  and  I  know  no  other 
remedy  but  to  pass  quickly  through  them. 

A  gain,  he  called  the  world  "a  war;  he  who  lives  at  others' 

O 

cost,  conquers  "  (Le  monde  est  une  guerre  ;  celui  qui  vit  aux  depens 
des  autres  est  victorieux).  His  maxim  was,  "Jest  with  life:  for 
that  only  is  it  good ;  "  as  Gay  wrote  for  his  own  epitaph,  — 

"  Life  is  a  jest,  and  all  things  show  it; 
I  thought  so  once,  but  now  I  know  it." 

Voltaire  wrote  to  his  friends  the  Argentals,  "While  awaiting 
the  tragedy,  enjoy  the  farce :  nothing  is  so  healthy  as  constant 
amusement  "  (En  attendant  la  tragedie,  voila  la  farce  :  il  faut  tou- 
jours  s'amuser ;  rien  n'est  si  sain).  "The  great  and  only  impor- 
tant thing,"  he  wrote  to  Mme.  de  Bernieres,  "  is  to  live  happily  " 
(La  grande  affaire,  et  la  seule  chose,  c'est  de  vivre  heureux). 


VOLTAIRE.  553 


Regimen  is  better  than  physic. 

Cromwell  said  in  his  last  illness,  "Nature  can  do  more  than 
physicians."  Voltaire  once  remarked  to  a  medical  man,  "You 
have  undertaken  to  convey  drugs  of  which  you  know  but  little 
into  a  body  of  which  you  know  less,  —  to  cure  a  disease  of  which 
you  know  nothing." 

The  head  of  gold. 

When  Turgot  visited  him  in  Paris,  Voltaire  remarked  to  the 
company,  "  When  I  look  upon  M.  Turgot,  I  think  I  see  the  statue 
of  Nebuchadnezzar."  "With  the  feet  of  clay,"  suggested  the 
statesman,  who  had  the  gout  in  his  feet.  "And  the  head  of 
gold !  the  head  of  gold !  "  added  Voltaire. 

God  and  liberty. 

When  Franklin  called  upon  him,  Voltaire  began  to  converse 
in  English,  as  was  his  custom  with  English  visitors.  The  spec- 
tators drawing  near,  Mme.  Denis,  the  poet's  niece,  asked  that 
the  conversation  might  be  carried  on  in  French ;  to  which  Vol- 
taire replied,  "  I  am  proud  to  speak  the  language  of  a  Franklin." 
The  latter  then  presented  his  grandson,  and  asked  the  old  man's 
benediction  upon  him.  Voltaire,  raising  his  hands  above  the 
youth's  head,  uttered  but  three  words,  "  Dleu  et  lilierte!' 

Mme.  Vestris,  of  the  company  of  the  Theatre  Francais,  in- 
curred his  displeasure  at  the  rehearsals  of  his  tragedy  of  "  Irene," 
by  speaking  her  part  too  rapidly.  He  said  to  her,  "  Remember 
that  I  have  not  written  verses  of  six  feet  for  you  to  gulp  down 
three  of  them  "  (Souvenez-vous  que  je  ne  vous  ai  pas  fait  dcs  vers 
de  six  pied s  pour  en  manger  trois}. 

To  Mme.  de  Cosse,  who  called  with  other  fashionable  people^ 
Voltaire  introduced  Mme.  de  Villette  (Belle-et-Bonne),  and  the 
duchess  congratulated  him  on  having  found  her  a  husband  : 
"  I  congratulate  myself  also,"  replied  ths  poet,  "  who  have  made 
two  happy,  and  one  wise." 

The  poet  Saint- Ange,  in  taking  leave  of  him,  said,  "  To-day, 
sir,  I  have  called  to  see  Homer.  I  shall  call  another  day  to  see 
Euripides  and  Sophocles  ;  afterwards,  Tacitus ;  then,  Lucian  ;  " 
at  which  Voltaire  asked,  "  Could  you  not  pay  all  these  visits  the 
same  day  ?  "  (Ne  pourriez-vous  pas  faire  toutes  vos  visiles  le  meme 


554  VOLTAIRE. 


jour  f)  To  Mercier,  who  told  him  that  he  had  surpassed  all  his 
contemporaries,  and  would  surpass  Fontenelle,  in  the  art  of  living 
long :  "  Ah,  sir,"  interrupted  Voltaire,  "  Fontenelle  was  a  Nor- 
man, and  cheated  nature." 

I  die  adoring  God,  loving  my  friends,  not  hating  my 
enemies,  and  detesting  superstition. 

Voltaire's  last  declaration,  written  with  his  own  hand,  Feb. 
28,  1778  (Je  meurs  en  adorant  Dieu,  en  aimant  mes  amis,  en  ne 
haissant  pas  mes  cnnemis,  et  en  dctestant  la  superstition}.  Having 
sufficiently  recovered  from  an  alarming  illness  in  February,  he 
attended  a  representation  of  "  Irene "  on  the  30th  of  March. 
The  audience  called  him  to  the  front  of  his  box,  and  one  of  the 
actors  placed  a  laurel  crown  upon  his  head,  amid  great  enthu- 
siasm. "Ah,  mon  Dieu  ! "  he  exclaimed,  "  you  wish,  then,  to  make 
me  die  of  glory  !  "  The  triumph  which  he  received  affected  him. 
to  tears.  "  They  wish,"  he  said,  "to  stifle  me  under  roses." 

John  Adams,  minister  of  the  United  States,  records  in  his 
diary  seeing  Voltaire  and  Franklin  embrace  in  the  hall  of  the 
French  Academy,  after  a  scene  of  similar  enthusiasm.  "The 
cry,"  he  writes,  "  immediately  spread  through  the  kingdom, 
*  How  charming  it  was  to  see  Solon  and  Sophocles  embrace  ! ' " 

Having  persuaded  the  Academy  to  undertake  a  new  dictionary 
of  the  French  language,  they  divided  the  letters  among  them- 
selves, Voltaire  himself  taking  A ;  at  the  close  of  the  exciting 
session  he  took  leave  of  the  Immortals  with  the  words,  "  Gentle- 
men, I  thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  alphabet."  The  reply  was 
a  pun :  "  We  thank  you  in  the  name  of  [the]  letters "  (des 
lettrei). 

In  the  oration  pronounced  May  30,  1S78,  on  the  one-hundredth 
anniversary  of  Voltaire's  death,  Victor  Hugo  said,  "  If  to  kill  be  a 
crime,  to  kill  much  cannot  be  an  extenuating  circumstance.  .  .  . 
In  the  eyes  of  the  eternal  God,  a  murderer  is  not  changed  in 
character,  because,  instead  of  a  hangman's  cap,  there  is  placed 
upon  his  head  an  emperor's  crown.  .  .  .  Let  us  say  it  with  a 
sentiment  of  profound  respect :  Jesus  wept ;  Voltaire  smiled.  Of 
that  divine  tear  and  of  that  human  smile  is  composed  the  sweet- 
ness of  the  present  civilization."  Mgr.  Dupanloup,  Bishop  of 
Orleans,  having  criticised  the  speech,  Victor  Hugo  in  his  reply 


EDMUND  WALLER.  555 

alluded  to  the  history  of  France  under  the  Second  Empire  :  "Dur- 
ing that  time  you  were  in  a  palace,  I  was  in  exile.  I  pity  you, 
sir."  —  PARTON  :  Life  of  Voltaire. 

EDMUND    WALLER. 

[An  English  poet;  born  in  Hertfordshire,  1G05;  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge; member  of  the  Long  Parliament;  deserted  the  popular  cause; 
member  of  Parliament  after  the  Restoration;  died  1087.] 

Poets  succeed  better  in  fiction  than  in  truth. 

In  reply  to  Charles  II.,  who  complained  that  Waller's  eulogy 
on  Cromwell  was  finer  than  his  congratulations  on  the  Restora- 
tion. The  French  tell  the  same  story  of  a  poet  who  compli- 
mented Louis  XVIII.  after  having  flattered  Napoleon.  Of  the 
former,  Dr.  Johnson  says,  "  It  is  not  possible  to  read  without 
some  contempt  and  indignation  poems  of  the  same  author,  as- 
cribing the  highest  degree  of  power  and  piety  to  Charles  I., 
then  transferring  the  same  power  and  piety  to  Oliver  Cromwell ; 
now  inviting  Oliver  to  take  the  crown,  and  then  congratulating 
Charles  II.  on  his  recovered  right."  —  Life  of  Waller. 

"When  James  II.  showed  him  a  portrait  of  his  daughter,  the 
Princess  of  Orange,  Waller  said  she  was  like  the  greatest  woman 
in  the  world,  meaning  Queen  Elizabeth.  "I  wonder,"  replied 
the  king,  "you  should  think  so,  but  I  must  confess  she  had  a 
wise  council." —  "  And,  sir,"  rejoined  Waller,  "  did  you  ever  know 
a  fool  choose  a  wise  one  ?  "  —  Ibid. 

On  hearing  of  the  engagement  of  Waller's  daughter  to  Dr. 
Birch,  a  clergyman,  James  expressed  surprise  that  he  could 
marry  his  daugltter  to  a  falling  church.  "The  king,"  replied 
the  poet,  "  does  me  great  honor  in  taking  notice  of  my  domestic 
affairs  ;  but  I  have  lived  long  enough  to  observe  that  this  falling 
church  has  got  a  trick  of  rising  again."  —  Ibid.  Theodore  de 
Beza  (1519-1605),  when  demanding*  before  a  council  at  Mon- 
ceaux,  punishment  for  the  murderers  of  Protestants  at  Vassy, 
said  to  Henry  of  Navarre,  father  of  Henry  IV.,  "  I  speak  for  a 
faith  which  is  better  skilled  in  suffering  than  in  avenging  wrong; 
but  remember,  sire,  that  'tis  an  anvil  on  which  many  a  hammer 
has  been  broken  in  pieces"  (C'est  une  enclume  qui  a  usebeaucoup 
de  marteaux). 


556  HORACE  WALPOLE. 

HORACE    WALPOLE. 

[An  English  letter- writer  and  wit,  youngest  son  of  Sir  Robert 
Walpole;  born  in  London,  1717;  educated  at  Cambridge;  entered 
Parliament,  1741 ;  purchased  Strawberry  Hill  at  Twickenham,  where 
he  collected  many  books  and  curiosities;  wrote  successful  novels 
and  plays;  succeeded  his  nephew  as  fourth  Earl  of  Orford,  but 
never  took  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Lords,  and  seldom  used  the  title; 
died  1797.] 

I  believe  England  will  be  conquered  some  day  in  New 
England  or  Bengal. 

Letter  to  Sir  Horace  Mann,  1774.  Walpole's  principles  were 
those  of  the  Whig  party.  Thus  he  wrote  in  1777  to  the  Countess 
of  Ossory :  "  I  own  there  are  many  able  Englishmen  left,  but  they 
happen  to  be  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic ;  "  and  again, 
"  Old  England  is  safe,  that  is,  America,  whither  the  true  English 
retired  under  Charles  I. ;  "  and  he  wrote,  Feb.  17,  1779,  "  Liberty 
has  still  a  continent  to  exist  in." 

Of  Hume's  visit  to  Paris,  as  secretary  of  the  British  embassy 
in  1763,  Walpole  wrote :  "  The  French  believe  in  Mr.  Hume :  the 
only  thing  in  the  world  that  they  believe  implicitly,  for  I  defy 
them  to  understand  any  language  that  he  speaks." 

The  world  is  a  comedy  to  those  that  think,  a  tragedy 
to  those  who  feel. 

Letter  to  Sir  Horace  Mann,  1770. 

"  And  if  I  laugh  at  any  mortal  thing, 
'Tis  that  I  may  not  weep." 

BYRON:  Don  Juan,  IV.  4. 

Walpole  also  wrote,  "  In  my  youth,  I  thought  of  writing  a  satire 
upon  mankind ;  but  now  in  my  age,  I  think  I  should  write  an 
apology  for  them."  Chamfort  once  said,  "To  live  and  move 
among  men,  the  heart  must  break  or  harden  "  {En  vivant  et  en 
voyant  les  hommes,  il  faut  que  le  cceur  se  brise  ou  se  bronze). 

A  careless  song,  with  a  little  nonsense  in  it  now  and 
then,  does  not  misbecome  a  monarch. 

Letter  to  Sir  Horace  Mann,  1774. 

"  Dulce  est  desipere  in  loco." 

HORACE:  Odes,  IV.  12,  28. 


SIR  ROBERT  WALPOLE.  557 

SIR  ROBERT  WALPOLE. 

[An  English  statesman;  horn  167G;  educated  at  Cambridge; 
entered  Parliament,  1700;  secretary  at  war,  1708;  expelled  and  im- 
prisoned on  a  charge  of  corruption,  1712;  first  lord  of  the  treasury, 
1715,  and  chancellor  of  the  exchequer;  prime  minister,  1721,  under 
George  I.  and  II.;  resigned  1742,  and  created  Earl  of  Orford;  died 
1745.] 

All  those  men  have  their  price. 

A  saying  which  grew  out  of  Walpole's  remark  to  Mr.  Leveson: 
"  You  see  with  what  zeal  and  vehemence  those  gentlemen  oppose 
me  ;  and  yet  I  know  the  price  of  every  man  in  this  house  except 
three,  and  your  brother,  Lord  Gower,  is  one  of  them."  In  1741 
he  said  of  some  who  called  themselves  patriots,  "  Patriots !  I 
could  raise  fifty  of  them  w7ithin  four  and  twenty  hours.  I  have 
raised  many  of  them  in  one  night.  'Tis  but  to  refuse  an  un- 
reasonable demand,  and  up  springs  a  patriot."  "Patriotism," 
said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  is  the  last  refuge  of  a  scoundrel." 

As  for  history,  I  know  that's  a  lie. 

More  accurately,  "  Oh,  don't  read  history !  that  I  know  must 
be  false ;  "  to  his  son,  who  offered  to  read  history  to  him. 

When  the  bells  were  rung  in  London  on  the  declaration  of 
war  against  Spain  in  1739,  of  which  Walpole  really  disapproved, 
but  which  he  was  compelled  by  popular  clamor  to  support,  he 
was  heard  to  say,  "  They  may  ring  their  bells  now,  before  long 
they  will  be  wringing  their  hands."  —  COXE  :  Life,  I.  579. 

He  replied  to  a  proposal  to  tax  the  North- American  Colonies 
in  1750,  "  I  have  Old  England  set  against  me,  and  do  you  think 
I  will  have  New  England  also  ?  " 

When  Pitt,  afterwards  Earl  of  Chatham,  joined  Frederick, 
Prince  of  Wales,  against  the  court  party,  Walpole  deprived  him 
of  a  cornetcy  in  the  Blues,  saying,  "  We  must  at  all  events 
muzzle  this  terrible  cornet  of  horse." 

Only  three  crowns. 

His  reply  to  Queen  Caroline,  who  asked  him  what  it  would 
cost  to  enclose  St.  James's  Park  in  the  palace-yard ;  the  park 
being  considered  ground  to  which  the  people  had  acquired  inde- 
feasible rights. 


558  BISHOP  WAEBURTON. 

Walpole  said  of  his  rival  Pulteney,  to  whom  Speaker  Onslow 
ascribed  the  most  popular  parts  for  public  speaking  that  he  had 
ever  known,  "  I  fear  Pulteney's  tongue  more  than  another  man's 
sword."  To  Pulteney  is  attributed  a  remark  similar  to  that 
quoted  of  Lord  Chesterfield,  that  when  he  had  turned  Walpole 
out  of  office  he  "  would  retire  to  that  hospital  for  invalids,  the 
House  of  Peers."  Pulteney  was  made  first  Marquis  of  Bath; 
and  Walpole  on  being  raised  to  the  peerage  accosted  him  by  say- 
ing, "  My  Lord  Bath,  you  and  I  are  now  two  as  insignificant  men 
as  any  in  England."  Both  had  by  that  time  fallen  in  public 
estimation. 

Pulteney  refused  to  promise  in  1742,  that  he  would  not,  in  com- 
ing into  power,  prosecute  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  and  expressed  his 
want  of  control  of  his  own  party  by  saying,  "  The  heads  of  parties 
are  like  the  heads  of  snakes,  which  are  carried  on  by  their  tails." 

It  was  a  maxim  of  Walpole's,  that  "  the  gratitude  of  place- 
expectants  is  a  lively  sense  of  future  favors,"  which  La  Rochefou- 
cauld has  expressed  in  his  "  Maxims  :  "  "  The  gratitude  of  most 
men  is  but  a  secret  desire  of  receiving  greater  benefits." 

Dr.  Johnson  said  of  two  statesmen  of  this  tune :  "  Walpole 
was  a  minister  given  by  the  king  to  the  people :  Pitt  was  a  min- 
ister given  by  the  people  to  the  king  —  as  an  adjunct." 

BISHOP   WARBURTON. 

[William  Warburton,  an  English  writer  and  prelate;  born  at  New- 
ark, 1G98;  educated  for  the  law,  but  entered  the  Church;  dean  of 
Bristol,  1757;  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  1759;  was  a  friend  of  Pope;  died 
June,  1779.] 

Orthodoxy  is  my  doxy,  heterodoxy  is  another  man's 
doxy. 

To  Lord  Sandwich,  who  said  in  a  debate  in  the  House  of  Lords 
on  the  Test  Laws,  that  he  often  heard  the  words  "  orthodoxy  " 

*/ 

and  "  heterodoxy,"  but  was  at  a  loss  to  know  precisely  what  they 
meant. — PRIESTLEY:  Memoirs,  I.  572. 

When  some  one  said  Pope  macfe  Warburton  a  bishop,  Dr. 
Johnson  replied,  "  Warburton  did  more :  he  made  Pope  a  Chris- 
tian ; "  alluding  to  the  bishop's  attempt  to  maintain  the  ortho- 
doxy of  Pope's  "Essay  on  Man." 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON.  559 

GEORGE    WASHINGTON. 

[Born  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  Feb.  22,  1732;  sent  by 
Gov.  Dimvicldie  on  a  mission  to  the  French  commander,  1753;  lieu- 
tenant-colonel and  aide-de-camp  to  Gen.  Braddock,  1754;  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  1758;  delegate  to  the  first  Continental  Con- 
gress; command er-in-chief  of  the  American  forces  in  the  War  of 
Independence;  resigned  his  commission,  December,  1783;  President 
of  the  United  States,  1789-97,  when  he  finally  retired  from  public 
life;  died  Dec.  11,  1799.] 

I  heard  the  bullets  whistle;  and  believe  me,  there  is 
something  charming  in  the  sound. 

From  a  letter  to  his  mother,  of  the  first  action  of  the  French 
and  Indian  War,  in  which  he  defeated  the  enemy  at  Great 
Meadows,  May  3,  1751.  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden,  on  hearing 
for  the  first  time  the  bullets  whistle  at  Copenhagen,  said,  "  That 
shall  be  my  music  in  the  future  !  "  Victor  Emmanuel,  when  he 
first  heard  the  roar  of  musketry,  exclaimed,  "  This  is  the  music 
which  pleases  me  !  " 

The  familiar  story  of  Washington  and  his  little  hatchet  is  not 
to  be  found  in  the  "  Lives  "  of  Marshall,  Sparks,  Irving,  Everett, 
or  Headley.  Custis  makes  no  mention  of  it  in  his  "  Recollec- 
tions of  Washington,"  but  illustrates  the  truthfulness  which 
characterized  the  "  Father  of  his  Country  "  by  the  anecdote  of 
the  indomitable  sorrel  thoroughbred,  which  young  "Washington 
on  a  certain  occasion  engaged  to  tame,  if  his  companions  would 
hold  the  animal  while  a  bridle  was  put  into  his  mouth.  The 
attempt  was  successful ;  but  the  American  Bucephalus  plunged 
with  such  tremendous  violence,  that  he  broke  a  blood-vessel,  and 
died  on  the  spot.  Washington  immediately  told  his  mother  what 
he  had  done;  when  she  replied,  "It  is  well;  but  while  I  regret  the 
loss  of  my  favorite,  I  rejoice  in  my  son,  who  always  speaks  the 
truth." 

When  Washington  entered  the  House  of  Burgesses  at  the  close 
of  the  French  War,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  passed  for  his  valuable 
services  in  the  field.  The  young  soldier  hesitated  in  making  a 
reply,  when  Speaker  Robinson  came  to  his  aid  by  saying,  "  Sit 
down,  sir :  your  modesty  is  equal  to  your  valor,  and  that  surpasses 
the  power  of  any  language  I  possess."  "  Glory  is  like  beauty," 
says  Lacordaire :  "it  is  heightened  by  modesty." 


560  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

"We  must  consult  Brother  Jonathan. 

A  frequent  remark  of  Washington,  by  which  he  expressed  his 
confidence  in  the  judgment  of  his  secretary  and  aide-de-camp, 
Col.  Jonathan  Trumbull  of  Connecticut,  afterwards  member  of 
Congress,  senator,  and  governor.  It  is  the  origin  of  the  nick- 
name "  Brother  Jonathan,"  applied  to  Americans. 

In  a  pamphlet  published  in  1643,  entitled,  "  The  Reformado 
precisely  characterized  by  a  transformed  Church  warden  at  a 
Vestry,"  the  following  passage  occurs:  "Queene  Elizabeth's  monu- 
ment was  put  up  at  my  Charge  when  the  regal  government  had 
fairer  credit  among  us  than  now,  and  her  epitaph  was  one  of  my 
Brother  Jonathan's  best  poems  before  he  abjured  the  university, 
or  had  a  thought  of  New  England."  — Words,  Facts,  and  Phrases. 

Let  posterity  cheer  for  us. 

Attributed  to  Washington,  when  some  of  the  American  troops 
cheered  as  the  sword  of  Cornwallis  was  given  to  the  American 
commander-in-chief  by  Gen.  O'Hara,  at  the  surrender  of  York- 
town,  Oct.  19,  1781.  The  Hon.  Robert  C.  Winthrop  in  his  cen- 
tenial  address  at  Yorktown,  Oct.  19,  1881,  doubts  the  story,  as 
incompatible  with  Washington's  character. 

I  Tequire  no  guard  but  the  affections  of  the  people. 

The  same  criticism  might  be  made  of  his  remark  in  declining 
a  military  escort  for  his  first  inauguration,  at  New  York,  1789. 

In  peace  prepare  for  war. 

In  a  speech  to  Congress,  Jan.  8, 1790,  he  said,  "  To  be  prepared 
for  war  is  one  of  the  most  effectual  means  of  preserving  peace." 
The  Latin  proverb,  "  Si  vis  pacem,  para  bellum  "  (If  you  wish 
peace,  prepare  for  war),  is  not  to  be  found  in  those  words,  al- 
though the  thought  is  common  to  many  writers.  Cornelius  Nepos 
("  Epaminondas,"  V.)  says,  "Pax  paritur  hello,  "  Statius  ("The- 
ba'is,"  VII.  554),  "  Scevis  pax  quceritur  annis,"  Vegetius,  a  Ro- 
man military  writer  of  the  fourth  century,  says,  "  Qui  desiderat 
pacem,  prceparat  bellum." 

Washington  wrote  to  Robert  Morris  in  1786  :  "  There  is  not  a 
man  living  who  wishes  more  sincerely  than  I  do  to  see  a  plan 
adopted  for  the  abolition  of  slavery." 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON.  561 

In  his  Farewell  Address,  September,  1796,  Washington  gave  the 
people  the  advice  repeated  by  Jefferson  (y.  p.  287),  to  "steer  clear 
of  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of  the  foreign  world." 

A  few  hours  before  his  death  (which  was  caused  by  acute 
laryngitis),  he  said,  "  I  look  to  the  event  with  perfect  resigna- 
tion." 

Chateaubriand  said  of  his  meeting  Washington  at  Philadel- 
phia :  "  There  is  virtue  in  the  look  of  a  great  man.  I  felt  myself 
warmed  and  refreshed  by  it  during  the  rest  of  my  life ;  "  and  he 
said  to  Washington,  in  allusion  to  the  object  which  brought  him 
to  America,  "  It  is  less  difficult  to  discover  the  polar  passage  than 
to  create  a  nation  as  you  have  done." 

First  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of 
his  countrymen. 

In  a  eulogy  upon  Gen.  Washington,  pronounced  by  Henry  Lee 
of  Virginia,  Dec.  26, 1799.  He  had  previously  introduced  a  reso- 
lution in  the  National  House  of  Representatives,  that "  a  commit- 
tee, in  conjunction  with  one  from  the  Senate,  be  appointed  to 
consider  on  the  most  suitable  manner  of  paying  honor  to  the 
memory  of  the  man  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the 
hearts  of  his  fellow-citizens."  The  word  "countrymen,"  used  by 
Benton  in  his  "  Abridgment  of  the  Debates  of  Congress,"  has 
since  been  generally  employed  in  place  of  "fellow-citizens." 

"  The  test  of  the  progress  of  mankind,"  says  Brougham,  "  will 
be  in  the  appreciation  of  the  character  of  Washington."  Grattan 
declared  that "  the  two  greatest  men  of  modern  times  are  William 
III.  and  Washington." 

"  Where  Washington  hath  left 
His  awful  memory 
A  light  for  after  times!  " 
SOUTHEY:  Ode  during  the  War  with  America,  1814. 

La  Fayette's  opinion  of  his  companion-in-arms  is  recorded  in 
the  Recollections  of  his  Private  Life,  London,  1855,  p.  25  :  "  In 
my  idea,  Gen.  Washington  is  the  greatest  man  ;  for  I  look  upon 
him  as  the  most  virtuous."  Charles  James  Fox  exclaimed  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  Jan.  13,  1794,  "  Illustrious  man !  de- 
riving honor  less  from  the  splendor  of  his  situation  than  from 
the  dignity  of  his  mind." 


562  DANIEL  WEBSTER. 


DANIEL    WEBSTER. 

[An  American  lawyer  and  statesman,  often  called  "  the  expounder 
of  the  Constitution;"  born  at  Salisbury,  N.H.,  Jan.  18,  1782;  edu- 
cated at  Dartmouth  College;  practised  law  in  New  Hampshire,  and 
elected  to  Congress,  1812;  removed  to  Boston  1816,  and  elected  to 
Congress  1822,  to  the  Senate  1828;  secretary  of  state  under  Harrison, 
Tyler,  and  Fillmore;  died  Oct.  24,  1852.] 

I  mean  to  use  my  tongue  in  the  courts,  not  my  pen ; 
to  be  an  actor,  not  the  register  of  other  men's  actions. 

Declining  the  clerkship  of  the  court  of  common  pleas  of  Hills- 
borough  County,  X.H.,  in  1807,  contrary  to  the  wishes  of  his 
father,  who  saw  in  the  position  the  assurance  of  moderate  main- 
tenance. Of  the  emoluments  of  the  profession,  Webster  said  at 
a  later  time,  "  Most  good  lawyers  live  well,  work  hard,  and  die 
poor." 

Liberty  and  union,  one  and  inseparable,  now  and  for- 
ever! 

The  close  of  his  celebrated  reply  to  Hayne  of  South  Carolina, 
one  of  the  disciples  of  Calhoun,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  Jan. 
26,  1830.  In  this  speech,  in  which  he  annihilated  the  arguments 
in  favor  of  a  peaceable  dissolution  of  the  Union,  Webster  said  of 
the  history  of  Massachusetts  in  the  Union,  "  The  past,  at  least, 
is  secure  ;  "  and  again,  "  I  thank  God,  that,  if  I  am  gifted  with 
little  of  that  spirit  which  is  able  to  raise  mortals  to  the  skies, 
I  have  yet  none,  as  I  trust,  of  that  other  spirit  which  would  drag 
angels  down." 

In  a  eulogy  on  Alexander  Hamilton,  March  10,  1831,  Webster 
said,  "  He  smote  the  rock  of  the  national  resources,  and  abundant 
streams  of  revenue  gushed  forth.  He  touched  the  dead  corpse  of 
public  credit,  and  it  sprang  upon  its  feet."  Talleyrand  said  to 
George  Ticknor,  of  Hamilton,  "  He  divined  Europe  "  (//  a  devine 
r  Europe). 

In  an  oration  on  laying  the  corner-stone  of  Bunker-hill  Mon- 
ument, June  17,  1825,  Webster  addressed  the  survivors  of  the 
battle :  "  Venerable  men !  you  have  come  down  to  us  from  a 
former  generation."  The  words  are  said  to  have  occurred  to  the 
orator  as  he  caught  two  remarkably  large  trout  on  a  fishing  ex- 


DANIEL  WEBSTER.  563 

cursion,  a  short  time  before  the  delivery  of  the  address.  —  Memo- 
rials of  Daniel  Webster,  I.  15. 

He  said  of  eloquence,  "  It  comes,  if  it  comes  at  all,  like  the 
outbreaking  of  a  fountain  from  the  earth." 

When  asked  what  was  the  most  important  thought  that  occu- 
pied his  mind,  Mr.  Webster  replied,  "  That  of  my  individual 
responsibility  to  God." 

Having  offended  the  anti-slavery  sentiment  by  his  speech  on 
ihe  Compromise  Measures,  March  7, 1850,  which  caused  the  alder- 
men of  Boston  to  refuse  the  use  of  Faneuil  Hall  to  his  friends  for 
a  public  reception,  he  wrote  :  "  I  shall  defer  my  visit  to  Faneuil 
Hall,  the  cradle  of  American  liberty,  until  its  doors  shall  fly  open 
on  golden  hinges  to  lovers  of  Union  as  well  as  of  Liberty."  He 
was  thinking  of  Milton's  lines  :  — 

"  Heaven  opened  wide 
Her  ever-during  gates,  harmonious  sound, 
On  golden  hinges  moving." 

Paradise  Lost,  VII.  205. 

The  aldermen  having  reversed  their  decision,  the  meeting  was 
held ;  and  Mr.  Webster  began  his  address  with  the  simple  but 
impressive  words  :  "  This  is  Faneuil  Hall  —  open  !  " 

In  a  speech  in  the  same  hall,  Sept.  30,  1842,  he  used  an  expres- 
sion, the  first  words  of  which  occur  in  "  Rob  Roy :  "  "  In  this  sea 
of  upturned  faces  there  is  something  which  excites  me  strangely, 
deeply,  before  I  even  begin  to  speak." 

His  last  words  were,  "  I  still  live." 

The  following  sentences,  written  and  signed  by  Mr.  Webster, 
were  placed  by  his  desire  upon  the  cenotaph  which  stands  near 
the  family  vault  wherein  his  body  lies,  at  Marshfield,  Mass.  :  — 

"  {  Lord,  I  believe:  help  thou  mine  unbelief.'  Philosophical 
argument,  especially  that  drawn  from  the  vastness  of  the  uni- 
verse, in  comparison  with  the  apparent  insignificance  of  this 
globe,  has  sometimes  shaken  my  reason  for  the  faith  which  is  in 
me ;  but  my  heart  has  always  assured  and  re-assured  me  that  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  must  be  a  divine  reality.  The  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  cannot  be  a  merely  human  production.  This  belief 
enters  into  the  very  depths  of  rny  conscience.  The  whole  history 
of  man  proves  it." 


564  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON. 

Sydney  Smith  said  of  him,  during  his  visit  to  England,  "  Dan- 
iel Webster  struck  me  much  like  a  steam-engine  in  trousers." 
Of  another  American :  "  When  Prescott  comes  to  England,  a 
Caspian  Sea  of  soup  awaits  him." 

&UKE  OF  WELLINGTON. 

[Arthur  Wellesley;  born  in  Ireland,  May  1,  1769;  ensign  and  lieu- 
tenant, 1787;  served  in  India;  member  of  Parliament,  1806;  chief 
secretary  for  Ireland,  1807;  commanded  the  British  forces  in  Spain 
and  Portugal,  1808;  raised  to  the  peerage,  1809;  entered  Madrid,  1812; 
gained  the  battle  of  Vittoria,  1813;  created  Duke  of  Wellington  and 
sent  as  ambassador  to  France,  1814;  represented  England  at  the  con- 
gresses of  Vienna  and  Verona;  gained  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  June 
18,  1815;  member  of  the  cabinet,  1819;  commander-in-chief,  1827; 
prime  minister,  1828;  secretary  for  foreign  affairs,  1834;  died  Sept.  14, 
1852.] 

Hard  pounding,  this,  gentlemen :    let's  see  who  will 
pound  the  longest. 

At  Waterloo.  Soult  said  of  the  English,  "  They  will  die  on  the 
ground  on  which  they  stand,  before  they  lose  it."  That  Welling- 
ton said  at  a  critical  moment  of  the  battle,  as  asserted  by  Alison, 
"  Up,  guards,  and  at  them !  '  is  now  discredited ;  but  Victor 
Hugo  states  ("  Les  Miserables :  Cosette,"  X.)  that  at  five 
o'clock  Wellington  drew  out  his  watch,  and  was  heard  to  mur- 
mur, "Bliicher  or  night."  To  Napoleon  have  been  attributed 
similar  words  :  "  Would  that  Grouchy  or  night  were  here !  " 

Asked  by  a  lady  to  describe  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  Wellington 
replied,  "  We  pummelled  them,  and  they  pummelled  us ;  and  I 
suppose  we  pummelled  the  hardest,  and  so  we  gained  the  day." 
Kosciusko  answered  Mine,  de  StaeTs  request  to  relate  the  history 
of  the  Polish  revolution,  "  Madame,  I  made  it,  but  I  cannot  nar- 
rate it"  (je  Vaifaite,  metis  je  ne  sais  pas  la  raconter). 

In  a  despatch  in  1815,  Wellington  made  use  of  the  remark, 
which  has  become  celebrated,  "  Nothing  except  a  battle  lost  can 
be  half  so  melancholy  as  a  battle  won."  "I  remember,"  says 
Emerson,  "  to  have  heard  Mr.  Samuel  Rogers  in  London  relate, 
among  other  anecdotes  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  that,  a  lady 
having  expressed  in  his  presence  a  passionate  wish  to  witness  a 
great  victory,  he  replied,  '  Madam,  there  is  nothing  so  dreadful 


DUKE   OF  WELLINGTON.  565 

as  a  great  victory --except  a  great  defeat.'  "  But  this  speech," 
adds  Emerson,  "is  d'Argenson's,  and  is  reported  by  Grimm."  — 
Quotation  and  Originality.  Napoleon  said,  "  The  sight  of  a  battle- 
field, after  the  fight,  is  enough  to  inspire  princes  with  a  love  of 
peace  and  a  horror  of  war." 

Wellington  wrote  from  Coimbra,  May  31,  1809,  to  the  Right 
Hon.  J.  Villiers,  "  I  have  long  been  of  the  opinion  that  a  British 
army  could  bear  neither  success  nor  failure."  But  lie  said  at 
another  time,  "English  soldiers  of  the  steady  old  stamp  —  depend 
upon  it,  there  is  nothing  like  them  in  the  world  in  the  shape  of 
infantry." 

He  said  to  Gen.  Dumourier,  in  Paris,  Nov.  26,  1814,  "Bona- 
parte governed  one  part  of  Europe  directly,  and  almost  the  other 
half  indirectly." 

It  is  not  the  first  time  they  have  turned  their  backs 
upon  me. 

During  Wellington's  embassy  to  Paris,  Louis  XVIII.  apolo- 
gized to  him  because  the  French  marshals  turned  their  backs 
upon  their  former  antagonist,  and  retired  from  the  king's  levee. 
"  Don't  distress  yourself,  sire,"  replied  Wellington  :  "  it  is  not  the 
first  time  they  have  turned  their  backs  upon  me." 

When  the  king  refused  to  allow  the  army,  after  the  Restora- 
tion, to  retain  the  tri-color,  Wellington  exclaimed,  MVhat  a 
people !  it  is  easier  to  make  them  accept  a  sacrifice  than  a  reason- 
able idea." 

An  untoward  event. 

The  battle  of  Navarino  was  fought  on  the  20th  October,  1827, 
by  the  fleets  of  England,  France,  and  Russia,  against  Turkey, 
who  lost  thirty  ships,  almost  her  entire  fleet,  many  of  them 
being  blown  up  to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  enemy's  hands. 
The  destruction  of  the  Turkish  naval  power  was  characterized  by 
Wellington  as  "an  untoward  event,"  because  it  threatened  to 
disturb  "the  balance  of  power." 

Your  Majesty  is  not  a  gentleman. 

When  George  IV.  protested  that  he  could  not  appoint  Can- 
ning secretary  for  foreign  affairs  in  1822,  "on  his  honor  as  a 


5GG  DUKE  OF  WELLINGTON. 

gentleman,"  the  Duke  replied,  "  Your  Majesty  is  not  a  gentle- 
man," by  which  he  meant  that  his  duties  as  sovereign  were 
superior  to  personal  considerations. 

Of  the  chances  of  the  Tories  to  come  into  power  after  the 
accession  of  Queen  Victoria  in  1837,  Wellington  said,  "I  have 
no  small  talk,  and  Peel  has  no  manners." 

Being  told  during  a  storm  at  sea  that  it  would  soon  be  all  over 
with  them,  he  coolly  remarked,  "  Very  well,  then  I  shall  not  take 
off  my  boots." 

I  mistrust  the  judgment  of  every  man  in  a  case  in 
which  his  own  wishes  are  concerned. 

This  and  the  following  are  included  among  the  Duke's  "  Max- 
ims and  Table-Talk  :  "  - 

Insurgents  are  like  conquerors :  they  must  go  forward ;  the 
moment  they  are  stopped,  they  are  lost. 

Napoleon  was  indeed  a  very  great  man,  but  he  was  also  a  very 
great  actor. 

I  do  not  know  which  was  the  best  of  the  French  marshals, 
but  I  know  that  I  always  found  Massena  where  I  least  desired 
that  he  should  be. 

There  are  no  manifestoes  like  cannon  and  musketry. 

A  great  country  can  have  no  such  thing  as  a  little  war. 

When  war  is  concluded,  all  animosity  should  be  forgotten. 

The  history  of  a  battle  is  like  the  history  of  a  ball. 

The  Lord's  Prayer  contains  the  sum  total  of  religion  and 
morals. 

Be  discreet  in  all  things,  and  so  render  it  unnecessary  to  be 
mysterious  about  any. 

When  one  begins  to  turn  in  bed,  it  is  time  to  get  up. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  will  be  successful,  and  what 
otherwise,  in  these  governments  of  intrigue ;  but, 
in  my  opinion,  the  broad  direct  line  is  the  best. 

In  a  speech  on  the  funeral  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  Nov.  15,  1852,  Disraeli  said,  "The  Duke  of 
Wellington  has  left  to  this  country  a  great  legacy,  greater  even 
than  his  fame  ;  he  has  left  to  them  the  contemplation  of  his 
character :  "  and  again,  "  It  was  his  sublime  self-control  alone  that 


SIR   CHARLES   WETIIERELL.  5G7 

regulated  his  lofty  fate."  Disraeli  called  the  duke's  government 
"a  dictatorship  of  patriotism."  -Endymion.  He  quoted  Bur- 
net's  observation  in  accounting  for  the  extraordinary  influence  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  applied  it  to  Wellington  :  "  His  strength 
lay  in  his  knowledge  of  England.  '  '  —  Sybil. 


CHARLES   WETHEHELL. 

[An  English  lawyer,  born  1770;  member  of  Parliament,  1820; 
solicitor-general,  1824;  attorney-general,  1826;  opposed  Catholic 
Emancipation  and  the  Reform  Bills  ;  died  1846.] 

He  has  added  a  new  pang  to  death. 

Said  at  a  dinner  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Hall,  Lyndhurst  and  Brougham 
being  present,  of  Campbell's  proposed  "  Lives  of  the  Lord  Chan- 
cellors." Arbuthnot  called  the  printer  Curll  "  one  of  the  new  ter- 
rors of  death,"  because  he  used  to  publish  "  a  heap  of  trash  "  on 
the  death  of  any  eminent  man,  under  the  title  of  his  "  llemains." 

ARCHBISHOP   WHATELY. 

[Richard  Whately,  an  eminent  English  writer;  born  in  London, 
1787;  educated  at  Oxford;  professor  of  political  economy  there,  1830; 
archbishop  of  Dublin,  1831;  organized  the  national  system  of  edu- 
cation in  Ireland;  published  "Elements  of  Rhetoric,"  1828;  died, 
October,  1863.] 

You  sit  upon  a  form,  but  you  stand  upon  a  ceremony. 

In  answer  to  his  own  question  of  the  difference  between  form 
and  ceremony.  He  was  the  author  of  the  conundrum,  "  Why 
can  a  man  never  starve  in  the  Great  Desert?  Because  of  the 
sandwiches  there.  What  brought  the  sandwiches  there  ?  Noah 
sent  Ham,  and  his  descendants  mustered  and  bred."  He  asked, 
"  Why  is  Ireland  the  richest  country  in  the  world  ?  Because 
its  capital  is  always  Dublin."  Another  conundrum  was,  "  Why 
would  gardening  be  a  dangerous  indulgence  for  lunatics?  Be- 
cause they  might  grow  madder." 

Can  he  draw  an  inference  ? 

When  told  there  was  nothing  a  certain  horse  could  not  draw. 
When  a  physiologist  answered  the  question,  "  Why  does  hang- 


568  JOHX  WILKES. 


ing  kill  a  man  ?  "  by  saying  that  respiration  was  checked,  circu- 
lation stopped,  the  brain  congested  —  "  Nonsense  !  "  interrupted 
Whately:  "it  is  because  the  rope  is  not  long  enough  to  let  his 
feet  touch  the  ground !  " 

Of  a  man  who  invariably  closed  his  eyes  when  asking  a  puz- 
zling question,  he  said,  "  He  resembles  an  ignorant  pedagogue, 
who  keeps  his  pupil  in  darkness." 

Cultivate  not  only  the  cornfields  of  the  mind,  but  the 
pleasure-grounds  also. 

Be  old  when  young,  that  you  may  be  young  when  old. 

Lose  an  hour  in  the  morning,  and  you  will  be  all  day 
hunting  for  it. 

Many  a  meandering  discourse  one  hears,  in  which  the 
preacher  aims  at  nothing,  and  hits  it. 

If  all  our  wishes  were  gratified,  most  of  our  pleasures 
would  be  destroyed. 

Woman  is  like  the  reed,  which  bends  to  every  breeze, 
but  breaks  not  in  the  tempest. 

JOHN   WILKES. 

[A  famous  English  politician  and  wit,  called  by  Johnson  "the 
phoenix  of  convivial  felicity;"  born  in  London,  1727;  educated  at 
Leyden;  member  of  Parliament,  1757;  founded  "  The  North  Briton," 
1702;  in  No.  45  accused  the  king  of  "an  infamous  fallacy"  in  a 
speech  from  the  throne;  imprisoned  in  the  Tower;  expelled  from 
the  House  for  libel,  1764,  and  outlawed;  elected  for  Middlesex,  but 
unseated,  and  re-elected;  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  1774,  and  admitted 
to  sit  for  Middlesex,  which  he  represented  for  many  years  ;  died 
1797.] 

God  forget  you  !    He'll  see  you  d first ! 

An  exclamation  caused  by  the  concluding  sentence  of  a  speech 
of  Lord  Thurlow's :  "  When  I  forget  my  king,  may  my  God  for- 
get me  !  "  Burke  added,  "  The  best  thing  that  could  happen  to 
you/' 

His  opponent  at  Brentford  said,  "  I  will  take  the  sense  of  the 
meeting."  -  "  And  I  will  take  the  nonsense,"  added  Wilkes ;  "  and 
we  will  see  who  has  the  best  of  it." 


WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR.  5G9 

lie  replied  to  the  Prince  Regent,  who  asked  when  he  became 
so  loyal,  by  saying,  "  Ever  since  I  had  the  honor  of  knowing  your 
Royal  Highness."  But  he  said  of  George  III.,  "I  love  the  king 
so  much  that  I  hope  never  to  see  another." 

He  refused  to  take  a  hand  at  whist,  saying,  "  I  am  so  ignorant 
that  I  cannot  tell  a  king  from  a  knave." 

"Fish/  he  once  said,  "is  almost  the  only  rare  thing  by  the 
seaside." 

He  remarked  of  an  unmannerly  man  in  a  chop-house,  "  Usually 
the  bear  is  brought  to  the  stake :  here  the  steak  is  brought  to  the 
bear." 

Wilkes  said  of  Burke's  florid  style,  "  His  oratory  would  some- 
times make  one  suspect  that  he  eats  potatoes  and  drinks  whiskey." 
In  speaking  of  Wilkes  and  his  mob-following,  Burke  substituted 
humeris  for  numeris  in  Horace's  line  ("  Odes,"  IV.  2), — 

"  —  numerisque  fertur 
Lege  solutis," 

so  that  it  might  read,  — 

"  He  is  carried  on  shoulders  uncontrolled  by  law." 

BOSWELL'S  Johnson,  1778. 

Burke  also  said  of  the  popular  excitement  in  favor  of  Wilkes, 
"  Whenever  the  people  have  a  feeling,  they  commonly  are  in  the 
right.  They  sometimes  mistake  the  physician." 

WILLIAM  I. 

[Surnaraed  "  the  Conqueror,"  Duke  of  Normandy;  born  at  Falaise, 
1025;  succeeded  his  father,  1035;  having  gained  the  favor  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  he  resolved  to  claim  the  throne  of  England,  and  on 
the  death  of  the  king  invaded  that  country,  and  defeated  Harold  at 
Hastings,  September,  1066;  was  crowned  king  in  December;  com- 
pleted the  subjugation  of  the  island,  and  ordered  a  survey  to  be 
recorded  in  Domesday  Book;  died  at  Rouen,  1087.] 

When  I  come,  I  will  light  more  candles  in  Notre  Dame 
than  he  will  like. 

Or,  "I  will  come  with  ten  thousand  lances  in  place  of  can- 
dles." In  reply  to  Philip  I.  of  France,  who,  having  heard  that 
William  was  sick,  asked  derisively  when  he  was  coining  to  Paris. 


570  WILLIAM  III. 


The  king  said  of  his  son  Robert's  claim  to  Xormandy  in  1075, 
"It  is  not  my  custom  to  lay  aside  my  clothes  until  I  go  to  bed." 

WILLIAM  III. 

[William,  Prince  of  Orange  and  Stadtholder  of  Holland;  born 
at  the  Hague,  Nov.  11,  1050;  repelled  an  invasion  of  the  French  by 
opening  the  dikes;  married  a  daughter  of  James  II.  of  England; 
invited  to  head  the  resistance  of  the  people  of  that  country  to  their 
king,  landed  at  Torbay,  November,  1688;  proclaimed  king  with  his 
wife  as  queen,  February,  1689;  gained  the  battle  of  the  Boyne  in 
May  following;  engaged  in  war  with  Louis  XIV.;  died  March,  1702.] 

I  will  die  in  the  last  ditch. 

When  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  asked  him,  after  the  execu- 
tion of  the  De  Witts,  if  he  did  not  see  that  the  commonwealth 
•was  ruined,  William  replied,  "There  is  one  certain  means  by 
which  I  can  be  sure  never  to  see  my  country's  ruin  :  I  \vill  die 
in  the  last  ditch."  —  HUME  :  History  of  England,  chap.  Ixv. 

I  will  maintain  the  liberties  of  England  and  the  Prot- 
estant religion. 

The  motto  of  the  House  of  Xassau  was,  "Je  maintiendrai" 
(I  will  maintain)  ;  the  rest  was  added  to  indicate  the  purpose 
with  which  William  entered  England,  in  1688,  and  was  displayed 
upon  his  banner. 

In  giving  a  patent-right  for  the  discovery  of  the  philosopher's 
stone,  William  remarked,  "  If  you  can  change  bread  and  wine 
into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  how  much  easier  base  metal 
into  the  nobler  gold  !  '' 

The  king  said  of  Professor  Dodwell  of  Oxford,  a  bitter  Jacob- 
ite :  "  He  has  set  his  heart  on  being  a  martyr,  and  I  have  set 
mine  on  disappointing  him." 

He  exclaimed  to  some  timid  sailors  on  a  rough  passage  to 
Holland,  in  1691,  "For  shame  !  are  you  afraid  to  die  in  my 
company?  " 

When  the  early  successes  of  Charles  XII.  of  Sweden  were 
described  to  him,  he  said,  "Ah,  youth  is  a  fine  thing." 

The  ambassador  of  Denmark  complained  of  certain  free  re- 
marks which  Lord  Molesworth  had  published  concerning  the 


WILLIAM  IV.  571 


arbitrary  government  of  that  country,  and  said  that  in  Denmark 
the  author's  head  would  fall.  William  III.  dryly  added,  "  If  you 
wish  it,  the  author  shall  put  what  you  say  in  his  second  edition." 
Having  received  fatal  injuries  by  a  fall  from  his  horse,  Feb. 
21,  1702,  he  said  to  the  Duke  of  Portland,  "  There  was  a  time 
when  I  should  have  been  glad  to  be  delivered  out  of  my  troubles ; 
but  I  own  I  see  another  scene,  and  could  wish  to  live  a  little 
longer."  His  last  words  were,  "  Can  this  last  long ?  " 

WILLIAM  IV. 

[King  of  England;  born  in  London,  Aug.  21,  1765;  entered  the 
navy,  and  became  admiral,  1801;  succeeded  George  IV.,  June  26, 
1830;  died  June  20,  1837.] 

It  has  done  its  duty  once,  and  is  ready  to  do  it  again. 

His  explanation  to  an  officer  of  marines,  who  felt  aggrieved 
because  the  king  said  at  table  of  an  empty  bottle,  "  Take  that 
marine  away." 

The  king's  last  words,  as  he  heard  the  cannon  firing  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  were :  "  It  was  a  great  day 
for  England." 

WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE. 

[William  of  Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange;  born  April,  1533;  enjoyed 
the  favor  of  Charles  V. ;  sent  by  Philip  II.  to  the  court  of  France, 
where  he  heard  without  betraying  himself  the  purposes  of  the  Span- 
ish king  in  regard  to  religion,  and  thus  gained  the  surname  of  "  the 
Silent;  "  resisted  for  many  years  the  attempt  to  introduce  the  Inqui- 
sition into  the  Low  Countries,  until  he  formed  the  republic  of  the 
Seven  Provinces,  of  jvhich  he  became  stadtholder,  1579;  assassinated 
1584.] 

Pro  lege,  rege,  grege  (for  law,  king,  people). 

His  motto. 

When  Egmont  bade  adieu  to  William,  who  had  escaped  from 
what  he  considered  the  murderous  intentions  of  Philip  II.,  writh 
the  words,  "Adieu,  landless  prince"  (prince  sans  terre),  Orange 
replied,  "Adieu,  headless  count"  (comte  sans  tele).  He  saw  the 
dangerous  position  of  Egmont,  who  thought  he  was  safe  because 


572  CARDINAL  WOLSEY. 

he  had  taken  an  oath  to  advance  the  Catholic  faith ;  but  William 
said  to  him,  "I  foresee  that  you  will  be  the  bridge  over  which 
the  Spaniards  will  pass  into  our  country  to  destroy  it."  Egmont 
was  beheaded  in  the  market-place  of  Brussels.  William,  pater 
patrice,  fell  by  the  bullet  of  Balthazar  Gerard.  His  last  words 
were :  "  My  God,  have  mercy  on  my  soul  and  on  this  poor 
people  1  " 

CARDINAL   WOLSEY. 

[Thomas  Wolsey,  an  English  ecclesiastic  and  courtier;  born  at 
Ipswich,  1471;  educated  at  Oxford;  dean  of  Lincoln,  1508;  rapidly 
promoted  by  Henry  VIII.,  until  he  became  Archbishop  of  York,  1514; 
cardinal  and  chancellor,  1515;  built  Hampton  Court;  lost  the  favor 
of  the  king,  who,  however,  pardoned  him  for  offences  for  which  he 
had  been  indicted;  arrested  again  on  a  charge  of  treason,  he  died 
before  his  trial,  November,  1530.] 

Ego  et  me  us  rex. 

His  formula  when  chancellor ;  thus  to  his  secretary  Gardiner : 
"Ego  et  meus  rex,  his  Majesty  and  I,  command  you:  this  divorce 
is  of  more  consequence  to  us  than  twenty  popedoms."  By  trans- 
posing in  Latin  the  first  and  third  persons,  he  was  said  to  be  a 
good  scholar,  but  a  poor  courtier.  It  was  remembered  against 
him,  and  Shakespeare  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk :- 

"  In  all  you  writ  to  Rome  or  else 
To  foreign  princes,  Ego  et  meus  rex 
"Was  still  inscribed;  in  which  you  brought  the  king 
To  be  your  servant." 

Henry  VIII. ,  III.  2. 

Father  abbot,   I  am  come  to   lay  my  weary  bones 
among  you. 

To  the  abbot  and  monks  of  Leicester  Abbey,  Nov.  26,  1529, 
after  his  fall ;  quoted  by  Cavendish,  who  was  his  secretary  before 
becoming  his  historian. 

His  last  words,  not  to  Cromwell  as  Shakespeare  gives  them, 
but  to  the  captain  of  the  guard,  Sir  William  Kingston,  who 
arrested  him,  were :  "  Had  I  served  God  as  diligently  as  I  have 
the  king,  he  would  not  have  given  me  over  in  nay  gray  hairs." 


WILLIAM  WORDSWORTH.  573 

"  O  Cromwell,  Cromwell! 
Had  I  but  served  my  God  with  half  the  zeal 
I  served  my  king,  he  would  not  in  mine  age 
Have  left  me  naked  to  mine  enemies." 

Henry  VIII.,  III.  2. 

WILLIAM  WORDS  WO  It  TH. 

[An  English  poet;  born  at  Cockermouth,  April  7,  1770;  educated 
at  Cambridge;  began  his  literary  career,  1793;  settled  at  Grasmere, 
1799;  wrote  "The  Prelude,"  1805;  moved  to  Rydal  Mount,  1813; 
published  "The  Excursion,"  1814;  appointed  distributor  of  stamps, 
1813;  succeeded  Southey  as  poet-laureate,  1843;  died  April  23,  1845.] 

Poetry  is  only  the  eloquence  and  enthusiasm  of  reli- 
gion. 

"  The  true  poet,"  he  said,  "  ascends  to  receive  knowledge ;  he 
descends  to  impart  it." 

He  remarked  of  "The  Elegy  in  a  Country  Churchyard,"  "It  is 
almost  the  only  instance  where  Gray  deviated  into  nature." 

I  would  not  give  up  the  mists  that   spiritualize   our 
mountains  for  all  the  blue  skies  of  Italy. 

"He  who  has  Nature  for  his  companion,"  declared  Words- 
worth, "must  in  some  sense  be  ennobled  by  the  intercourse." 

Truth  takes  no  account  of  centuries. 

How  men  undervalue  the  power  of  simplicity,  but  it 
is  the  real  key  to  the  heart. 

SIR  HENRY   WOT  TON. 

[An  English  diplomatist  and  writer;  born  in  Kent,  1568;  educated 
at  Oxford;  resided  several  years  abroad;  secretary  to  the  Earl  of 
Essex,  whom  he  accompanied  to  Spain  and  Ireland;  fled  to  the  Con- 
tinent on  the  fall  of  Essex;  gained  the  favor  of  James  I.,  who  sent 
him  as  ambassador  to  Venice,  and  other  powers;  provost  of  Eton, 
1625;  died  1639.] 

An  ambassador  is  an  honest  man  sent  to  lie  abroad 
for  the  commonwealth. 

Written  in  Latin  in  the  album  of  his  friend  Fleckamore,  as  he 
was  passing  through  Augsburg  on  his  way  to  Venice  (Legatus 


574  XERXES   THE   GREAT. 

esl  vir  bonus  peregre  missus  ad  mentiendum  rei  publicce,  causa). 
Wotton's  biographer  thinks  that  he  intended  a  pun  in  the  use  of 
the  word  "  lie,"  the  other  sense  being,  to  live  out  of  his  country 
"  for  his  country's  good ;  "  which  was,  however,  lost  by  the  em- 
ployment of  Latin.  —  WALTON:  Life. 

When  Wotton's  advice  was  asked  by  a  person  setting  out  on 
a  foreign  mission,  he  said,  "  Ever  speak  the  truth ;  for,  if  you 
will  do  so,  you  shall  never  be  believed,  and  'twill  put  your 
adversaries  (who  will  still  hunt  counter)  to  a  loss  in  all  their 
dispositions  and  undertakings."  It  was  a  saying  of  Cavour's, 
"  I  have  found  out  the  art  of  deceiving  diplomatists :  I  speak 
the  truth,  and  I  am  certain  they  will  not  believe  me." 

To  a  priest,  who  wrote  on  a  slip  of  paper  during  vespers  in  a 
church  in  Rome,  "  Where  was  your  religion  to  be  found  before 
Luther  ?  "  he  replied,  in  the  same  manner,  "  My  religion  was  to 
be  found  where  yours  is  not  to  be  found,  —  in  the  written  word 
of  God."  —  Ibid.  Wilkes's  answer  to  a  similar  question  was 
briefer:  "  Where  were  your  hands  before  you  washed  them?" 

Wotton  caused  to  be  inscribed  on  his  tomb  in  Eton  College : 
"  Hie  jacet  hujus  sententice  primus  author,  Disputandi  pruritus  eccle- 
siarum  scabies  "  (The  itch  of  disputation  will  prove  the  scab  of 
the  Church). — Ibid. 

Milton  travelled  on  the  Continent  under  Wotton's  directions, 
"with  the  celebrated  precept  of  prudence,  I  pensieri  stretti,  ed 
il  viso  sciollo  (Thoughts  close  and  looks  loose)."  —  JOHNSON: 
Life  of  Milton. 

XERXES  THE  GREAT. 

[King  of  Persia;  succeeded  Darius,  485  B.C.;  raised  an  immense 
army  for  the  invasion  of  Greece,  480;  captured  Athens,  after  turning 
the  Pass  of  Thermopylae,  but  defeated  at  Salaniis,  and  returned  to 
Asia;  murdered,  465.] 

I  shall  not  buy  my  Attic  figs  in  future,  but  grow  them. 

When  planning  the  invasion  of  Greece,  he  refused  to  eat  the 
figs  offered  for  sale.  — PLUTARCH  :  Apothegms. 

He  gave  as  a  reason  for  the  tears  which  he  was  seen  to  shed 
as  his  army  was  crossing  the  Hellespont  into  Greece,  that  in  a 
hundred  years  not  one  of  all  that  vast  assembly  would  be  alive. 


ZEUXIS.  575 


Admiring  the  bravery  of  Artemisia,  queen  of  Ilalicarnassus, 
his  ally  at  the  battle  of  Salamis,  he  exclaimed,  "  My  men  have 
proved  themselves  women,  and  my  women  men." 

ZEUXIS. 

[A  celebrated  Greek  painter,  born  at  Heraclea  about  450  B.C.; 
studied  and  worked  at  Athens  and  in  Southern  Italy;  and  was 
renowned  for  his  skill  in  the  imitation  of  the  human  form,  and  for 
his  grand  and  energetic  style.] 

If  I  boast,  it  shall  be  of  the  slowness  with  which  I 
finish  my  pictures. 

To  Agatharcus,  the  painter,  who  boasted  of  the  ease  and 
celerity  with  which  he  despatched  his  paintings.  To  the  same 
source  may  be  attributed  the  remark,  when  told  of  the  rapid 
execution  and  greater  production  of  certain  other  artists :  "  I 
work  for  immortality." 

Having  painted  so  naturally  a  dish  of  grapes  held  by  a  boy 
that  the  birds  pecked  at  the  fruit,  he  said,  "  Had  I  painted  the 
boy  as  true  to  nature  as  the  grapes,  the  birds  would  have  been 
afraid  to  touch  them."  This  may  be  connected  with  the  cele- 
brated trial  of  skill  between  Zeuxis  and  his  younger  rival  Parr- 
hasius.  The  former  painted  grapes  so  naturally  that  the  birds 
flew  at  the  picture  to  eat  them ;  confident  of  success,  he  called 
upon  his  rival  to  draw  aside  the  curtain  and  show  his  picture : 
the  curtain  itself  was  the  picture,  painted  upon  a  board  to 
resemble  real  drapery.  Zeuxis  yielded  the  palm,  saying,  "  I  de- 
ceive birds;  you,  an  artist." 


INDEX. 


INDEX    OF    SAYINGS. 


ABANDONED,  power  with  most,  176. 

Abdicate,  you  must,  498. 

Abiit,  exceasit,  142. 

Above  us,  light  is,  257. 

Abroad,  schoolmaster  is,  72. 

Abstract,  love  in  the,  504. 

Abuse  them,  unless  you,  226. 

Abuses,  reform  correction  of,  363. 

Accent,  to  catch  English,  171. 

Accept,  if  I,  199. 

Accident,  accident  of  an,  530. 

only  a  happy,  12. 
Accomplished,  work  is,  540. 
Account,  apologies  only,  46. 
Achilles,  lyre  of,  8. 

funeral  of,  393. 
Acquaintance,  an  old,  181. 

not  scrape,  267. 

not  unworthy  of,  515. 

to  be  extended,  293. 
Acquired,  taste*  not  hastily,  550. 
Act,  shrink  from  criminal,  173. 

to  see  Kean,  156. 
Action,  action,  action,  173. 

justice  truth  in,  42. 

may  behold  every,  191. 

morality  of,  296. 

Puritans  gave,  440. 
Activity,  a  man's,  384. 
Actor,  Napoleon  great,  566. 
Actualities,  reason  on,  67. 
Adamant,  wall  of,  250. 

chains  of,  541. 

Address,  never  reach  its,  544. 
Adieu,  canaux,  544. 
Adriatic,  from  Alps  to,  417. 
Adroit,  nothing  more,  366. 
Adullam,  cave  of,  71. 
Adultery,  sacrament  of,  23. 
Advance  himself,  will,  496. 

if  I,  221. 
Advantage,  an  immense,  460. 

betook  myself  to,  18. 
Adventurer,  born  to  be,  390. 
Adversary,  a  temperate,  360. 
Advice,  agreeable,  508. 
Advocate,  good  need  no,  442. 
A.  E.  I.  O.  U.,230. 
^Edile,  old  enough  to  be,  90. 
Affable,  superior  man  is,  160. 
Affairs,  so  order  your,  54. 
Affection,  opinion  and,  480. 


Afraid,  need  not  be,  301. 
Africa,  I  hold,  94. 
After,  come  oft'  better,  431. 
Age,  genius  of  our,  530. 

on  crest  of,  474. 

quiet  old,  382. 

Roman  history  not  for  our,  255. 

Shakespeare  of  no,  155. 

sorrows  mellowed  by,  511. 

spirit  of  the,  218. 

small  of  its,  215. 
Ages  not  for  us,  404. 
Agnus  Dei,  kiss  your,  470. 
Agree,  all  Christians,  296. 
Agreement,  men  not  in,  257. 
Aid,  come  to  my,  350. 
Air,  castles  in  the,  543. 
Alcibiades,  not  bear  another,  9. 
Alexander,  he  is,  9. 

play  the,  9. 

were  I  not,  8. 

you  left,  11. 

Alexanders  at  five  sous,  550. 
Alive,  not  one,  574. 
All,  lose  or  win,  268. 
All-fours,  simile  on,  364. 
Alliances,  entangling,  288. 
Allowance,  war  not  on,  20. 
Almighty,  promise  to  marry,  367. 
Alone,  bad  man  is,  188. 

I  am,  85. 

Italy  finish  it,  124. 

never  less,  476. 

when  I  argue,  259. 
Alphabet,  take  this,  360. 

thank  in  name  of,  554. 
Already,  what,  522. 
Altar,  antiquity  raised,  228. 

friend  as  far  as,  435. 
Am,  paint  me  as  I,  169. 
Ambassador,  man-of-war  best,  169. 

respect  his,  381. 
Ambassadors,  God's  great,  434. 

too  many  for,  358. 
Amber,  fly  in,  504. 
Ambition,  my  only,  539. 
Amenities,  wait  for  these,  388. 
America,  British  greatness  in,  226. 

Plymouth  Rock  underlies,  440. 
American,  born  an,  149. 

if  I  were  an,  128. 

love  all  but,  304. 

579 


580 


INDEX. 


Amiable,  am  not,  406. 
Amusable,  no  longer,  367. 
Ancestor,  my  own,  317. 
Ancestors,  in  sepulchres  of,  442. 

in  place  of,  85. 

tomb  of,  225. 

wisdom  of  our,  79. 
And  you,  63. 
Angel,  an  aged,  502. 

if  not  rising  to  be,  155. 
Angels,  on  side  of,  45. 
Anger,  people  deny,  414. 
Angry  Boy,  the,  490. 

when  man  is,  49. 
Anguish,  cry  of,  540. 
Animal,  a  tool-making,  189. 

cow  a  good,  302. 
Answer,  burning  no,  187, 
Anticyra,  journey  to,  438. 
Antiquity,  as  if,  320. 
Ants,  swarm  of,  500. 
Anvil,  'tis  an,  555. 
Anxiety,  stupidity  without,  255. 
Ape,  an  ugly,  248. 
Apology,  blaze  of,  47. 
Apparatus,  remove  sad,  393. 
Appetite,  war  irregular,  20. 
Applaud  me,  used  to,  431. 
Apples,  gives  golden,  257. 

only  fruit  are,  545. 
Apprehended,  easily,  427. 
Apprentice,  watchmaker's,  469. 
Approve,  hate  but,  532. 
Apron,  smell  of  the,  17. 
Arabs,  not  perish  by,  400. 
Archangel,  mouse  nibbling  at,  269. 
Archdeacon,  definition  of,  521. 
Are,  see  things  as  they,  214. 
Argument,  found  you  an,  312. 

term  merge  in,  200. 

Tower  is  worst,  434. 

the  last,  490. 

tu  quoque,  43. 
Arguments,  men  want,  80. 
Aristides,  lived  like,  72. 
Aristocratic,  incredulity  not,  461. 
Arm,  custom  to,  196. 

cut  off  left,  140. 
Arm's  length,  Graces  at,  216. 
Arms,  on  wings  of,  454. 

first  to  lay  down,  518. 

laws  silent  among,  143. 

Smiths  never  had,  500. 
Army,  a  British,  565. 

has  made  an,  471. 

Roland  of  the,  401. 

words  need  an,  4. 
Arriere-pensee,  an,  497. 
Arrive,  speak  until  audience,  149. 
Arts,  virtues  were  his,  85. 
Ass,  angel  at  an,  240. 

Coleridge  and  the,  157. 

put  to  flight  by,  85. 
Assassin,  takes  me  for,  162. 
Assassins  begin,  let  the,  318. 
Assemblies,  kings  govern  by,  219. 
Asserted,  law  is  what  is,  86. 


Assertion,  youth  reckless  in,  43. 
Assizes,  disappeared  at,  500. 
Associates,  tell  me  your,  254. 
Asylum,  contains  no,  381. 
Atheist,  no  man,  411. 
Athenian,  not  an,  210. 
Athenians,  I  lose  the,  213. 

revenge  upon,  112. 
Athirst,  gods  are,  187. 
Athlete,  body  of  an,  552. 
Atlantic,  on  other  side  of,  556. 
Atlas,  carry  world  like,  50. 
Atmosphere,  prism  of  own,  42. 
Atoms,  concourse  of,  432. 
Attention,  riches  gain,  298. 
Attorney,  a  New-Zealand,  502. 

gentleman  an,  301. 

shilling  to  bury  an,  426. 
Austerlitz,  sun  of,  401. 
Authority,  on  such  good,  534. 

religion  without,  319. 

suffer,  let  my,  352. 
Avarice,  dreams  of,  306. 
Aversion,  spontaneous,  46. 
A  while,  stay,  25. 

Baby,  a  Quaker,  501. 

Back,  never  saw  my,  361. 

Backs,  turned  their,  565. 

Backward,  revolutions  never  go,  440. 

Bacon,  Hog  is  not,  31. 

Badly,  no  wonder  you  speak,  182. 

Baggage,  bag  and,  251. 

Bait,  hook  without,  328. 

the  only,  135.  , 

Ballads,  if  man  could  make,  481. 
Banns,  forbid  the,  445. 
Baptism,  certificate  of,  272. 
Barbarian,  an  amiable,  57. 
Barbarism,  twin  relics  of,  489. 
Bark,  gravity  only  the,  159. 
Barrel,  grace  over,  225. 
Baruch,  who  was,  3'J± 
Base,  am  inherently,  405. 
Baskets,  heads  meet  in,  177. 
Bassano,  Talleyrand  and,  518. 
Bath,  how  cold  is,  265. 
Bathing,  caught  Whigs,  40. 
Battalions,  big  Prussian,  486. 

converted  in,  41. 

the  heaviest,  486. 
Battle,  history  of  a,  566. 

met  king  in,  167. 
Battle-field,  sight  of,  565. 
Bauble,  take  away,  168. 
Bayonets,  require  no,  33. 
Be  early,  133. 

quiet,  54. 

Bear,  steak  brought  to,  569. 
Beards,  ideas  like,  551. 
Beast,  every  man  has,  155. 
Beasts,  I  envy,  552. 
Beatipossidentes,  63. 
Beaufort,  imitation  of,  37. 
Beauty,  between  wit  and,  512. 

glory  like,  559. 

talks  herself  into,  513. 


INDEX. 


581 


Bed,  when  one  turns  in,  f>66. 
Befall  me,  should  ever,  190. 
Beef-tea,  Rousseau  needs,  469. 
Beggar,  ask  the  first,  518. 
Begging-letters,  Krskine  and,  206. 
Beginning,  love  the,  321. 
Behavior,  polite,  456. 
Being,  applause  of  single,  305. 

disguise  of  reasonable,  201. 

the  poorest,  80. 

world  a  living,  252. 
Believe,  Lord,  I,  563. 
Belisarius,  penny  to,  30. 
Boll,  have  rung  the,  83. 
Bells,  may  ring  their,  557. 
Bench,  drink  down  to,  297. 
Beneath,  confidence  from,  496. 
Benefactress,  cease  to  be,  455. 
Benevolence,  Lord  Holland's,  465. 

reputation  for,  514. 
Best,  not  equal  to,  483. 

what  government  is,  508. 
Betimes,  to  rise,  360. 
Better,  confess  it  is,  181. 

will  know,  362. 
Bible,  study  of,  156. 
Bill  passed,  get  my,  273. 
Bills,  like  these,  147. 
Binnacle,  abaft  the,  373. 
Birch  enough,  not,  343. 
Bird,  be  like  a,  4G4. 

put  to  death  the,  198. 
Birds,  I  deceived,  575. 

in  power  of,  25. 
Bishop,  learning  enough  for,  199. 

when  made  a,  217. 
Bite,  dead  dogs  not,  430. 

the  slanderer's,  189. 
Blame,  citizens  fear,  508. 
Bless,  priestess  to,  337. 
Blessing,  old  man's,  404. 
Block,  not  chip  of  old,  447. 
Blockhead,  an  Athenian,  291. 

no  man  but  a,  303. 
Blood,  flag  of,  323. 

gentleman  of,  224. 

how  much,  72. 

in  imbecility  or,  527. 

made  laws  with,  182. 

seal  with  my,  267. 

that  is,  9. 

Blue,  blue  always,  270. 
Blundering,  plundering  and,  251. 
Blush,  Hellespont  would,  9. 

rather  see  a,  104. 
Board,  charge  himself  with,  544. 
Boat,  in  the  same,  150. 
Bodies,  if  I  had  a  hundred,  552. 

one  soul  in  two,  455. 
Body,  all  in  my,  424. 

a  pedigree  of  the,  440. 

enough,  not,  500. 

not  present  in  the,  44. 

why  care  for,  102. 
Boets,  hate  all,  248. 
Bohun,  where  is,  165. 
Bonds,  except  these,  502. 


Bones,  lay  weary,  572. 

not  possess  even, '477. 

valley  of  dry,  2ti9. 
Book,  easier  to  write,  318. 

here  is  a,  213. 

make  a  great,  259. 

men  of  one,  502. 

read  an  old,  466. 

reading  one,  19. 

eat  to  write,  363. 

send  me  that,  547. 

the  worst.  289. 

write  a,  318. 
Books,  no  furniture  like,  505. 

what  we  make  them,  441. 

young  friends,  old,  466. 
Boots,  not  take  oft',  566. 
Borders,  enmity  at,  22. 
Boston,  cold  roast,  19. 
Bother,  out  of,  239. 
Bothers  me,  it,  404. 
Bottle,  assistance  of,  82. 
Bottle-holding,  judicious,  432. 
Boundary,  the  natural,  418. 
Bounded,  country  however,  179. 
Bourbon,  spite  of,  193. 
Bourbonist,  am  a,  125. 
Bourbons,  in  putting  down,  490. 
Bow,  anger  is  a,  49. 
Bow-wow  way,  Johnson's,  313. 
Box,  in  wrong,  363. 
Boy,  never  was  a,  445. 

the  ill-girt,  89. 
Boys,  claret  lor,  305. 
Brain,  too  much,  269. 
Brass,  colossus  of,  102. 

polished,  131. 
Brave,  bravest  of,  152. 

fortune  favors,  486. 

land  of  the,  411. 
Bray,  vicar  of,  479. 
Bread,  cowards,  who  eat  my,  49. 

Scotch  learning  like,  240. 

see  to  my,  102. 
Break,  heart  must,  556. 
Breakfast,  Sydney  Smith  on,  505. 
Breakfast-table,  free,  71. 
Breathes,  while  tyrant,  495. 
Breeches,  book  in,  364. 

came  without,  368. 
Breslau,  steeples  of,  236. 
Brick,  found  Rome,  26. 
Bridge,  better  sell  their,  189. 

blow  up  with.  355. 

build  golden,  13. 

finger  not  a,  535. 

take  the,  355. 

you  will  be  the,  572. 
Bristol,  not  live  in,  78. 
Briton,  name  of,  247. 
Brooms,  new,  195. 
Brother,  be  my,  111. 

Jonathan,  consult,  560. 
Brumaire,  the  18th,  518. 
Brush,  Fox  by  your,  491. 
Brutus,  Caesar  had  his,  280. 

worthy  of,  96. 


582 


INDEX. 


Brutus,  soul  of,  102. 
Buchanan,  Johnson  on,  295. 
Build,  like  it  will  not,  383. 
Bull,  loosed  the,  494. 
Bullet,  ball  and,  425. 
Bullets,  better  pointed,  56. 
Buncombe,  speaking  for,  149. 
Burden,  respect  the,  413. 
Burly,  ye  be,  196. 
Burning  questions,  47. 
Burke,  ditto  to,  78. 

Johnson  on,  83,  86. 
Burn,  old  wood  to,  466. 
Burned,  adore  what  we,  153. 
Burr,  Boswell  a,  314. 
Business,  soul  of,  135. 

getting  money  not,  303. 

not  know  his,  518. 

pleasures,  my,  87. 
Bust,  only  a,  513. 
Butcher,  rise,  437. 
Butterfly,  wing  of  a,  501. 

Cabbages,  Diocletian's,  118. 
Cabriolets,  would  prohibit,  110. 
Cas.-ar,  antidote  against,  97. 

art  carrying,  92. 

not  king  but,  94. 
Cage,  Bonaparte  in  a,  424. 

have  no,  425. 
(7a  ira,  227. 

Cain,  brotherhood  of,  110. 
Calamity,  first  thought  in,  310. 
Came,  the  enemy,  93. 
Cammina,  383. 
Camp,  license  of,  399. 
Candle,  a  dipped,  139. 

light  such  a,  325. 

never  snuffed  a,  117. 
Candle-light,  reign  by,  286. 
Cannae,  6  Cannae,  271. 
Cannon-ball,  carried  by,  174. 
Canossa,  not  going  to,  61. 
Cant,  clear  mind  of,  309. 
Canting,  flatter  millions',  87. 
Cantos,  divided  into,  491. 
Canvas,  ablest  man  on,  482. 
Capital,  Rome  the,  413. 
Captivity,  ingredient  of,  511. 
Carcass,  smell  the,  442. 
Cardinal,  O  happy,  205. 

sixth  as,  191. 
Cards,  this  man's,  247. 
Care,  planted  by,  36. 
Career,  failed  in,  56. 

not  renounce,  393. 
Cares,  succession  of,  64. 
Carlyle,  Goethe  on,  100. 
Carriage,  if  I  had  a,  452. 

there  goes  a,  73. 
Cart,  appear  in  this,  176. 

ride  in  a,  123. 
Carthaare,  ruins  of,  376. 
Cast,  ball  not,  401. 

die  is,  91. 
Castle,  house  his,  153. 

war  to,  110. 


Castle,  win  him  a,  397. 
Castlereagh,  Byron  on,  87. 
Castiglione,  Augereau  of,  26. 
Cat,  bell  the,  16. 

like  a,  410. 

kept  dog  and,  322. 

ring  on  a,  475. 
Catholic,  am  a,  429. 

die  penitent,  321. 

heart  is,  205. 

Catiline,  Louis  another,  473. 
Cato,  wife  of,  467. 

Punch  and,  505. 
Cats,  fidelity  of,  410. 
Cause,  first  best,  324. 

I'll  judge  thy,  22. 
Causes,  had  so  few,  289. 

wise  men  plead,  509. 
Cave,  not  to  bis,  71. 
Celebrity,  glory  and,  406. 
Centuries,  no  account  of,  573. 
Century,  philosophy  of  one,  50. 

too  soon,  428. 

woman,  problem  of,  225. 
Ceremonies,  comply  with,  15. 
Ceremony,  courtiers  and,  255. 

among  men,  no,  102. 
Chains,  clank  your,  256. 
Chair,  give  Dayrolles  a,  136. 
Change,  Turenne's  small,  164. 
Channel,  must  cross  the,  527. 
Chapter,  the  worst,  460. 
Character,  contrast  of,  156. 

no  national,  301. 

not  suit  my,  382. 

the  personal,  405. 
Chariot,  Pope  drives,  297. 
Charlatan,  the  great,  518. 
Charle  attend,  356. 
Charlemagne,  I  succeeded,  403. 
Charles,  one  word  from,  436. 

the  First,  to  make  a,  495. 
Charm,  Venus  not,  133. 
Charming,  no  name  eo,  94. 
Charms,  commencement  that,  333. 
Chassepots,  Macmahon  and  the,  109. 

did  wonders,  109. 
Chateau,  an  old,  214. 
Chateaux  en  Eapagnet  542. 

took  inns  for,  549. 
Cheer,  be  of  good,  7. 

let  posterity,  560. 
Child,  Byron  a,  88. 
Children,  bear  no,  95. 

has  borne  most,  406. 

men  but  great,  412. 

nothing  better  for,  492. 

should  leave  his,  38. 

survived  all  his,  532. 

teach  your,  254. 

works  are  my,  384. 

you  teach,  6. 

Chimney,  looking  up,  361. 
Chivalry,  feat  of,  68. 
Christ,  change  bread  to,  570. 

death  ot7  411. 

revolutions  of,  169. 


INDEX. 


583 


Christendom,  wisest  fool  in,  279. 
Christening,  emperor  at,  315. 
Christian,  no  longer  a,  60. 

once  a,  319. 

Pope  a,  558. 

Christianity,  primitive,  227. 
Christs,  Carlo  Dolce's,  155. 
Christy  Minstrels,  the,  47. 
Church,  hostility  to  the,  502. 

last  favors  of,  350. 

not  go  to,  215. 

this  falling,  555. 
Churchyard,  no  room  in,  503. 

rather  sleep  in,  86. 
Cineas,  words  of,  454. 
Ciphers,  Whigs  are,  73. 
Circle,  don't  step  on,  21. 

head,  but  not,  21. 
Circumstance,  poetry  of,  258. 
Citizen,  private  life  of,  191. 
Citizens,  equality  of,  218. 
City,  gone  into  the,  300. 

rather  lost  best,  398. 
Civil,  so  generally,  303. 

of  any  one  not,  519. 
Civilization,  head  of,  266. 

resources  of,  251. 
Civis  Romanus  sum,  141. 
Clank,  link  cannot,  312. 
Clause,  great  appropriation,  41. 
Cleander,  were  I,  9. 
Clemency,  from  similar,  397. 
Clergy,  cannon  of,  315. 
Clerk,  not  a  simple,  244. 
Clever,  women  often,  428. 
Client,  was  your,  531. 
Climb,  fain  would  I,  455. 
Climbs  so  high,  no  man,  169. 
Climate,  no  difference  in,  292. 
Cloaks,  soldiers  like,  475. 
Clock, is  a,  388. 
Close,  mantle  too,  238. 
.Clothes,  books  then,  205. 

lay  aside,  570. 

these  fine,  362. 

value  of  fine,  302. 
Clothing,  sheep  in  wolf's,  490. 
Clouds,  king  dropped  from,  480. 
Clubs,  Talleyrand  of,  204. 
Coach,  Johnny's  upset  the,  185. 
Coalitions,  England  not  love,  43. 
Coals,  stretched  on,  359. 
Coat,  man  for  such  a,  445. 
Cobwebs,  laws  like,  508. 
Coffee,  Racine  and,  485. 
Coin,  pay  in  own,  60. 
Coke,  Bacon  to,  29. 
Cold,  if  1  tremble  with,  31. 

only  from,  31. 
Coleridge,  Southey  on,  157. 
Colonies,  perish  the,  35. 
Colors,  with  flying,  457. 
Colossus,  overthrow  the,  547. 
Combat,  government  of,  37. 
Comedian,  a  good,  217. 
Comedies,  spoiling  with,  469. 
Comedy,  world  a,  556. 


Comedy,  you  give  a,  140. 
Commerce,  perish,  35. 
Committed,  worst  thing  have,  170. 
Commonplace,  horror  of,  320. 
Common-sense,  obedient  to,  520. 
Company,  afraid  to  die  in,  570. 

send  bill  of,  514. 

with  people,  132. 

you  know  the,  214. 
Comparison,  much  by,  379. 
Comparative,  barrenness  is,  294. 
Compositions,  read  over,  308. 
Compromise,  government  and,  79. 
Concluded,  when  war  is,  566. 
Condescension,  danger  of,  297. 
Confidence,  have  the,  290. 
Confiscation,  legalized,  46. 
Conge  d'elire,  a,  313. 
Congers,  who  boiled,  17. 
Conquered,  England  will  be,  556. 

God,  93. 

thou  hast,  316. 
Conqueror,  in  power  of,  146. 

insurgents  like,  566. 
Conscience,  equity  and,  479. 
Consciousness,  without,  333. 
Consent,  silence  gives,  68. 
Conservative,  a  class  so,  440. 

republic  will  be,  528. 
Consolation,  a  great,  66. 

will  be  some,  71. 
Conspiring,  when  he  is  not,  523. 
Constitution,  character  is  a,  12. 

genius  of  the,  128. 

sacrifice  part,  463. 

swept  away,  263. 

valuable  in,  440. 

Constitutions,  nine  have  bad,  245. 
Consulate,  Marius'  seventh,  377. 
Consuls,  not  question  of,  498. 
Consultation,  lordship  in,  170. 
Contempt,  anger  not  reach,  265. 

not  forgive,  131. 

Contemptible,  no  opinion  not,  452. 
Continent,  liberty  still  a,  556. 
Contradict,  I  never,  48. 
Control,  above  our,  256. 
Convalescence,  nothing  before,  276. 
Convention,  an  insane,  438. 
Conversation,  brilliancy  in,  307. 

learn  from,  219. 
Conversion,  laceration  in,  296. 
Convictions,  listen  to,  258. 
Cook,  Bailay  like  a,  529. 
Coquette,  world  an  old,  549. 
Corner,  presented  one,  159. 
Cork,  drawings  of,  215. 

heads  of,  523. 
Corners,  bullets  not  turn,  227. 

pursued  into,  191. 
Cornice,  king  like,  526. 
Corpse,  emperor  or,  90. 
Corruption,  Burke  on,  80. 
Corsica,  Barbaroux  on,  67. 
Cossack,  republican  or,  412. 
Costs,  how  much  it,  11. 
Cottage,  envy  humble,  99. 


584 


INDEX. 


Council,  fool  choose  wise,  555. 
Counsellor,  a  grave,  31. 
Count,  adieu,  headless,  571. 
Country,  a  strange,  246. 

all  serve  our,  256. 

carries  not  his,  175. 

content  to  live  in,  320. 

destruction  of  this,  490. 

enemy  of,  417. 

have  saved  my,  392. 

heart  bleeds  for,  295. 

love  my,  446. 

love  of,  409. 

man  makes  his,  385. 

Milton's,  385. 

never  betrayed,  425. 

no  small,  283. 

not  survive,  237. 

no  wise  man  in,  320. 

Romans  without  a,  175. 

sacred  love  of,  493. 

should  like  my,  487. 

sod  not  my,  386. 

the  brave  man's,  386. 

there  is  my,  385. 

union  is  my,  149. 

•who  fights  against,  38. 

will  save  my,  192. 

zeal  to  serve,  127. 
Coup  manque,  a,  249. 
Courage,  apprenticed  to,  375. 

cities  walled  with,  4. 

innocence  loses,  375. 

no  civic,  409. 

no  truth  without,  477. 

take,  35. 

Course,  law  take  its,  372. 
Court,  not  go  to,  127. 

vices  of  the,  461. 
Courtesy,  nothing  but  poor,  118. 

outdone  in,  288. 
Courtiers,  trees  like,  240. 
Courts,  use  tongue  in,  562. 
Courtship,  hours  of,  41. 
Cousin,  to  our  trusty,  130. 
Coward,  Ca3sar  to  the,  94. 

death  overtakes,  401. 

scoundrel  and,  532. 
Crabs,  only  bears,  297. 
Cradle,  bed  and,  366. 

sat  by  its,  263. 
Creation,  criticise  by,  384. 

had  I  been  at,  13. 
Credit,  growth  of,  128. 

no  long,  52. 
Credulity,  craving,  42. 
•      Creed,  a  Calvinistic,  129. 

Crillon,  where  wert  thou,  152. 

hang  yourself,  275. 
Crime,  appetite  for,  389. 

if  to  kill  be  a,  554. 

magistrates  encourage,  105. 

never  committed,  203. 

poverty  worse  than,  298. 

•world  stained  with,  468. 

worse  than  a,  202. 
Critic,  no  man  good,  432. 


Critical,  easier  to  be,  42. 
Critics,  laugh  at,  216. 
Cromwell,  Hampden  on,  166. 
Cross  it,  that  we  should,  444. 
Crowd,  same  unthinking,  167. 
Crown,  an  incorruptible,  112. 

confidence  of,  434. 

courage  defend,  414. 

lose  your,  450. 

offer  of  a,  60. 

pay  dear  for,  222. 

struck  pope  in,  205. 
Crowns,  only  three,  557. 
Crowned,  virtue,  163. 
Crumbles,  if  throne,  323. 
Crust,  eat  a  dry,  199. 
Crutch,  drive  with  this,  128. 
Cui  bono,  144. 
Culpable,  if  friend  is,  462. 
Cultivation,  gratitude  fruit  of,  309. 

greatness  promotes,  256. 
Cultus,  literature  demands,  320. 
Curate,  make  a  lean,  504. 
Curiosity,  description  excites,  309. 
Curse,  business  to,  337. 
Curtain,  draw  the,  28. 
Custody,  dead  than  in,  197. 
Cynic,  too  much  for,  18. 

Daggers,  sink  under,  33. 
Damage,  nothing  can,  51. 

D first,  will  see,  568. 

Dance,  may  sing  and,  469. 
Dances,  the  congress,  332. 
Dancing-bear,  a,  313. 
Danger,  way  to  avoid,  464. 
Danton,  name  is,  176. 

Robespierre  and,  175. 
Dare,  devotee  of  Jeanne,  178. 
Dare,  God  will  never,  325. 
Darius,  casket  of,  8. 
Dark,  leap  in  the,  277. 
Daughter,  Beelzebub's,  269. 
Daughters,  dismiss  three,  457. 
Day,  has  an  unpleasant,  450. 

lost  a,  533. 

never  see  the,  22. 

Paris  not  built  in,  277. 

pay  visits  the  same,  553. 
Days,  bright  and  cloudy,  311. 
Dead,  between  living  and,  447. 

disposing  of  that,  456. 

how  much  in  word,  88. 

if  Alexander  is,  442. 

old  or,  90. 

possession  of,  138. 

speak  good  of,  138. 

wait  until,  271. 
Deaf,  husband  should  be,  13. 

thinks  himself,  125. 
Dean,  not  mix  with,  361. 
Dear,  Plato  is,  23. 
Death  and  taxes,  227. 

angel  of,  70. 

a  sudden,  95. 

bankruptcy  or.  52. 

by  contemning,  4. 


INDEX. 


585 


Death,  compact  with,  39. 

die  u  natural,  '.245. 

envy  thy,  94. 

exile  is,  511. 

it  is,  249. 

I  want,  100. 

king  of  use  by,  495. 

laugh  at,  475. 

new  pang  to,  567. 

new  terrors  of,  567. 

no  grief  but  her,  347. 

painted  to  the,  503. 

shrink  from,  349. 

sleep  before,  190. 

synthesis  of  life  and,  156. 

to  celebrate,  408. 

toilet  of,  162. 

too  often  braved,  349. 
Debate,  Rupert  of,  185. 
Decay,  suffer  than,  169. 
Deceived,  man  easily,  69. 

man  is  never,  69. 

me,  voices  not,  178. 

thee,  how  they  have,  467. 

world  wishes  to  be,  69. 

you,  they  have,  188. 
Deed,  will  for,  170. 
Defence,  God  my,  359. 

millions  for,  443. 
Defending,  pass  life  in,  465. 
Dtformicz,  voun  me.,  461. 
Deformities,  age  has,  104. 
Degrees,  rich  by, ,312. 
De  "auihtce,  172. 
Deliberate,  let  us,  387. 

yet  you,  388. 
Deluge,  after  us  the,  449. 
Demands,  if  I  granted,  112. 
Democracy,  clerk  of,  243. 

stem  tide  of,  186. 
Demosthenes,  talk  like,  77. 
Den,  Rome  like  lion's,  470. 
Deo  erexit  Voltaire,  548. 
Deputy,  calls  in  a,  269. 
Derided,  I  am  not,  189. 
Desaix,  last  words  of,  186. 

tomb  of,  186. 

Descent,  grant  gradual,  278. 
Desert,  taken  into,  100. 

will  both,  237. 
Deserted  me,  not  have,  410. 
Deserts,  return  to  primitive,  534. 
Desires,  absence  of,  484. 

to  have  no,  506. 
Despair,  religion  converts,  64. 
Despot,  an  old,  238. 

country  formed  by,  304. 
Destiny,  iron  dice  of,  56. 

miss  my,  401. 

Napoleon  on,  400. 

one  country,  one,  425. 

politics  are,  255. 
Destroyed,  sect  not,  414. 
Destruction,  cause  of  Adam's,  396. 

work  of,  392. 

Detest,  you  make  me,  328. 
Devil,  either  god  or,  412. 


Devil,  Erasmus  or,  397. 

first  Whig  was,  295. 

is  loose,  457. 

sacrificed  to,  447. 
Devourer,  a  slow,  532. 
Dictionary,  Choate  and  the,  139. 
Di-do-duin,  was,  452. 
Die,  better  king  should,  222. 

Christian  can,  2. 

come  to,  275. 

criminal  must,  498. 

do  kings,  76. 

feel  himself,  97. 

had  rather,  95. 

Louis  must,  462. 

marshal  can,  2. 

moment  I  should,  412. 

more  difficult  to,  349. 

not  difficult  to,  349. 

people  do  not,  507. 

teaches  how  to,  162. 

to  see  me,  467. 
Dies,  King  of  France,  356. 

not  how  a  man,  308. 

see  how  one,  32. 

the  guard,  423. 
Diet,  praise  the  best,  502. 
Digestion,  have  excellent,  217. 
Diggin-a- later,  otium  cum,  143. 
Dined,  Hannibal  had,  277. 

thought  I  had  not,  423. 
Diocese,  out  of  his,  333. 
Diogenes,  more  fortunate  than,  189. 

tries  to  resemble,  469. 

diphthong,  expense  of  a,  202. 
Diplomatists,  art  of  deceiving,  574. 
Disappear,  if  emperors,  382. 
Disciple,  genius  a,  320. 
Discontented,  made  ten,  345. 
Discontents,  the,  466. 
Discourse,  a  good,  211. 

a  meandering,  568. 
Discoverer,  the  first,  215. 
Discretion,  philosophy  nothing  but,  480. 
Diseases,  passions  incurable,  258. 
Dishes,  women  silver,  257. 
Dishonor,  death  rather  than,  536. 
Disorder,  no  interest  in,  83. 
Disparage  it,  don't,  220. 
Dispersed,  mob  is,  85. 
Displease,  shall  often,  192. 
Disputation,  itch  of,  574. 
Dissent,  dissidence  of,  79. 
Dissenter,  go  as,  501. 

stick  knife  into,  501. 
Dissimulate,  he  would,  412. 

who  cannot,  336. 
Distance,  great  objects  at,  440. 
Distinguished,  sufficiently,  101. 
Ditch,  die  in  the  last,  570. 
Divided,  glory  not,  424. 
Divine  right,  Bismarck  on,  56. 
Division,  revision  nor,  212. 
Do,  I  always,  130. 

leave  nothing  to,  7. 
Doctor,  sick  man  his,  38. 
Dog,  Alcibiades  and  his,  6. 


586 


INDEX. 


Dog,  hang  a,  297. 

not  kill  a,  538. 

servant  a,  502. 

the  wickedest,  114. 

truth  a  good,  155. 
Doing,  must  he.  384. 

the  Lord's,  196. 

is  Pitt's,  127. 
Done,  if  difficult,  is,  97. 

through  what  man  has,  302. 

what  has  animal,  551. 
Dooming  me,  right  of,  176. 
Door,  cek'brau-d,  23. 

bolt  a,  515. 

looking  for  little,  194. 
Dora,  his  daughter,  156. 
Doubts,  raises  more,  128. 
Dover,  candle  at,  299. 
Down,  let  myself,  77. 
Downing  Street,  Delphi  of,  41. 
Doxy,  orthodoxy  my,  558. 
Drama,  life  tiresome,  460. 
Drawers,  arranged  as  in,  409. 
Drawing-room,  not  used  to,  518. 

vanquishes  in,  239. 
Drawn,  wine  is,  203. 
Dreams,  in  my,  107. 
Dress,  distinctions  in,  310. 
Drink,  a  good,  456. 

let  them,  106. 

Drinking,  Johnson  on,  304. 
Drudgery,  literature  a,  492. 
Drugs,  undertaken  to  convey,  553. 
Drum,  first  beat  of,  375. 

hole  in,  359. 

Drum-beat,  whose  morning,  439. 
Drunk,  happy  when,  304. 

have  tried  him,  115. 
Dryden,  genius  of,  156. 
Dublin,  capital  is,  567. 
Duke,  duke  always,  270. 
Dulness,  aiming  at,  324. 
Dull,  Sherry  is";  299. 
Dundee,  an  hour  of,  38. 
Dungeon,  obscurity  of,  416. 
Dust,  but  little,  425. 

down  with,  514. 
Duties,  if  people  impose,  416. 

know  little  of,  201. 
Duty,  do  our,  236. 

every  man  to  do  his,  420. 

have  done  my,  421. 

occupied  with,  496. 

once,  has  done,  571. 

your  first,  348. 
Dwarf,  found  him,  401. 
Dying,  believe  I'm,  531. 

country  is,  162. 

get  by,  202. 

how  to  bear,  349. 

Ear,  hole  in  your,  147. 

in  at  one,  324. 
Early,  I  go  away,  324. 
Earnest,  liberal  in,  249. 
Ears,  wolf  by,  533. 
Earth,  last  of,  2. 


Earth,  lie  heavy  on  him,  514. 

shown  figure  of,  234. 

too  much  on,  14. 

the  whole,  435. 
East,  reputations  from,  413. 
Eat,  not  live  to,  506. 
Eating,  not  the,  479. 
Echo,  only  an,  170. 
Economize,  necessary  to,  551. 
Ecrasez  rinfdme,  547. 
Edict  for  it,  an,  148. 
Edition,  in  his  second,  571. 
Education,  by-roads  in,  208. 
Effects,  carry  my,  53. 

selling  ray,  550. 
Egoism,  mastery  is,  254. 
Egotism,  there's,  289. 
Egypt,  embayed  in,  502. 
Either,  bear  nothing  of,  534. 
Elba,  year  in,  410. 
Elected,  electors  nor,  212. 
Elements,  stopped  by,  74. 
Elevated,  not  great  but,  367. 
Eloquence,  spoke  with,  447. 
Eloquently,  told  more,  377. 
Else,  never  any  thing,  71. 
Embrace,  may  this,  410. 

Solon  and  Socrates,  554. 
Emperor,  am  your,  410. 

do  without  an,  552. 

name  an,  117. 

once  your,  543. 

while  he  was,  478. 
Empire,  Constantinople  an,  12. 

Greek  of  lower,  12, 

holy,  Roman,  nor,  388. 

North  striving  for,  471. 

shall  taste,  28. 

sun  never  sets  on,  438. 
Enclosures,  against  all,  29. 
End,  beginning  of,  517. 

consider  the,  508. 
Ends,  where  law,  127. 
Enemies,  fall  by,  146. 

kill  only,  292. 

knaves  dangerous,  136. 

make,  526. 

more  generous,  184. 

Talleyrand  treats,  523. 

war  against,  349. 
Enemy,  clericalism  is  the,  243. 

dead  body  of,  543. 

facing  the,  39. 

have  met  the,  326. 

here  comes  the,  70. 

joy  at  death  of,  442. 

not  undervalue,  478. 

soon  have  beaten,  237. 
England,  air  of,  370. 

eye  of,  29. 

good  time  In,  167. 

great  day  for,  571. 

last  man  from,  130. 

maintain  liberties  of,  570. 

merriest  life  in,  216. 

name  never  reached,  107. 

Old  against  New,  557. 


INDEX. 


587 


England,  parties  of,  257. 

religions  in,  545. 

Scotch  found,  294. 

Scotland  a  worse,  295. 

•without  monarchy  in,  89,. 
Englishman,  name  of,  169. 
Enjoy,  abstain  to,  551. 
Enoch,  handed  out  by,  361. 
Enough,  done  fast,  25. 

I  have,  266. 

rope  not  long,  568. 
Enslave,  intellect  may,  258. 
Entente  cortliale,  357. 
Enter,  harder  to,  443. 

king  cannot,  153. 

where  does  owner,  190. 
Enthusiasm,  young,  99. 
Enthusiastic,  must  be,  474. 
Epidemic,  madness  were,  334. 
Epilogue,  never  come  to,  544. 
Epitaph,  poor  poet's,  115. 

Sulla's,  60. 

Epocha,  most  memorable,  1. 
E  pur  ai  muove,  241. 
Equal,  nature  made  men,  218. 
Equality,  are  for,  218. 

will  have,  111. 

Equator,  disrespectfully  of,  499. 
Equipped,  so  well,  209. 
Erect,  I  stood,  497. 
Eripuit  caelo,  228. 
Err,  cautious  seldom,  160. 
Escape,  no  guilty  man,  262. 
Escaped,  thoti  hast,  337. 
Esculapius,  a  cock  to,  507. 
Espalier,  born  to  be,  390. 
Et  tu,  Brute,  95. 
Eternal,  Rome  would  be,  27. 
Eternity,  loaded  from,  400. 
Eulogy,  write  own,  443. 
Eureka,  20. 
Europe,  best  in,  381. 

cafe  of,  283. 

fold  map  of,  446. 

Frenchmen  women  of,  551. 

governed  one  part  of,  565. 

greatest  event  in,  81. 

he  divined,  562. 

puzzled  all,  391. 

sick  man  of,  426. 

the  innkeeper  of,  548. 

wisest  idiot  of,  279. 
Evening,  cool  of,  503. 
Event,  an  untoward,  565. 

wise  after,  259. 
Every  thing,  had  forgotten,  401. 

heart  is,  132. 

I  saw,  375. 

men  are,  73. 

not  tell,  136. 

Everywhere,  democracy  is,  382. 
Evil,  poverty  great,  298. 
Example,  a  great,  283. 

set  an,  345. 

Exchequer,  loss  in,  25. 
Executioner,  Barnave  and,  35. 
Exercise,  give  me,  124. 


Exertions,  England  saved  by,  446. 
Exeter  Hall,  bray  of,  364. 
Exile,  meaning  of,  418. 

Orestes  of,  510. 

pontiff  or  in,  89. 

the  road  of,  539. 
Exist,  cease  to,  299. 

if  death  did  not,  58. 

if  Italy  did  not,  58. 
Existed,  I,  496. 

we,  107. 
Existence,  courage  in  supporting,  413. 

new  world  into,  97. 

traces  of,  407. 

Existences,  Catilinarian,  56. 
Expected,  one  least,  95. 
Expediency,  justice  highest,  440. 
Experience  is  every  thing,  413. 
Expression,  a  geographical,  261. 
Extinguisher,  speech  like,  170. 
Extremes  meet,  289. 
Eye,  compass  in,  384. 

gentleman  in  my,  238. 

memory  more  than,  466. 
Eyes,  close  my,  50. 

shoots  from,  396. 

Fabius,  wants  a,  391. 

Face,  compliment  on  my,  512. 

look  Parliament  in,  113. 

save  my,  425. 

stare  us  in,  463. 

strike  in,  93. 

to  turn  her,  483. 
Faces,  sea  of  upturned,  563. 
Fact,  empire  is  a,  528. 
Faction,  that  base,  393. 
Facts,  so  much  worse  for,  470. 
Fagots,  legate  heaps,  205. 

supply  us  with,  181. 
Fail,  fallible  being  will,  308. 
Faith,  if  majesty  had,  398. 

one  law,  one,  425. 

unsettle  no  man's,  66. 
Fall,  if  America,  128. 

sparrow  cannot,  228. 
Falling,  not  prevent,  264. 
False,  new  was,  260. 

round  numbers,  311. 
Falsehood,  democracy  a,  382. 

passes,  413. 

Falsehoods,  cottages  have,  133. 
Fame,  degrees  in,  451. 

desire  of,  311. 
Family,  country  better  than,  210. 

wit  of  other,  390. 
Fancy,  Burke's  imperial,  86. 
Faneuil  Hall  —  open,  563. 
Farmer-general,  once  a,  549. 
Fashion,  smoking  out  of,  452. 
Father,  inherited  crown  from,  405. 

join  your,  376. 

till  you  are  a,  279. 
Fatherland,  die  in,  148. 
Fault,  pleasure  in  finding,  233. 
Faults,  a  man's,  65. 
Faust,  idea  of,  256. 


588 


INDEX. 


Favor,  friends  find,  525. 

he  whom  I,  273. 
Favors,  dispute  in,  10. 

sense  of  future,  558. 
Fear,  agitated  by,  353. 

appeal  to,  59. 

let  tyrants,  198. 

incapable  of,  117. 

what  begins  in,  155. 
Feather,  royalty  a,  169. 
Feathers,  Cork  and,  289. 

struck  by  own,  316. 
Federalists,  are  all,  287. 
Feeling,  when  people  have,  569. 
Feelings,  not  shock  our,  85. 
Feet,  majesty  has  no,  392. 

verses  of  six,  553. 
Felicity,  Phrenix  of,  568. 

throne  of,  105. 
Felt,  darkness  may  be,  361. 
Fellow,  extremely  clever,  64. 

such  a,  1">4. 

Females,  in  disguise  of,  201. 
Fenelon,  more  Frenchman  than,  210. 

Rousseau  on,  210. 
Festina  lenie,  25. 
Fever,  republican,  474. 
Few,  pence  are,  295. 
Fiction,  better  in,  555. 
Fidelity,  this  your,  422. 

two  kinds  of,  410. 
Fiddle,  I  cannot,  525. 
Fiddler,  Fritz  a,  336. 
Field,  monarchy  fair,  509. 
Field  marshal,  bravo,  93. 
Fields,  nought  but  green,  29. 
Fight  again,  may,  183. 

am  going  to,  541. 

how7  they,  287. 

make  me.  376. 

not  begun  to,  314. 
Figs,  not  buy,  574. 
Finger,  not  taken  with,  535. 
Finished,  siege  is,  537. 
Fire,  baptism  of,  418. 

frying-pan  into,  490. 

going  under,  208. 

goodness  to,  407. 

liquid,  268. 

perish  world  by,  450. 

pistol  misses,  313. 

poke  not  the,  455. 
Fireside,  nonsense  for,  268. 
First,  like  the,  346. 

never  lire,  408. 

not  third  but,  271. 
Fisheries,  vexed  with,  79. 
Fisherman,  a  poor,  176. 
Flag,  cany  the,  139. 

haul  d'own  the,  190. 
Flatterer,  not  friend  and,  442. 
Flattery,  praise  and,  311. 
Fleeced,  fleecers  and,  521. 
Fleet,  kiss  the,  397. 
Flesh,  pardon  of  all,  268. 

take  off  my,  500. 
Fling  him  out,  119. 


Flogging,  now  less,  312. 
Flower-bed,  what  a,  24. 
Flown,  birds  are,  112. 
Fly,  King  James  to  the,  480. 
Folk,  lively  dead,  550. 
Follow  me,  417. 

who  loves,  221. 
Folly,  monument  of,  11. 
Fool,  a  furious,  243. 

ball  is  a,  386. 

criminal  a,  6. 

a  roundabout,  155. 

philosopher  a,  6. 

physician  or  a,  98. 

the  old,  115. 

wisdom  of,  310. 
Foolish,  nothing  more,  75. 
Fools,  dismissed  his,  279. 

great  men  and,  99. 

men  called,  50. 

wise  men  and,  104. 
Foot,  stamp  your,  66. 
Foot-boy,  Voltaire's,  231. 
Foreigner,  God  not  a,  320. 
Forelock,  time  by,  271. 
Forever,  God's  word  lasts,  230. 
Forget  thee,  if  I,  17. 

not  forgive,  49. 
Forgetting,  art  of,  465. 
Forgive,  societies  never,  136. 

thee,  God  may,  199. 
Forgotten,  chagrins  be,  352. 

I  am,  413. 

make  ourselves,  527. 

wish  to  be,  211. 
Form,  sit  upon,  567. 
Forsaken  me,  children  have,  287. 
Forsitan  et  nostrum,  260. 
Fortunate,  is  he,  3SO. 
Fortune,  architect  of  own,  415. 

contentment  and,  331. 

power  and,  447. 

sudden  good,  465. 
Foundering,  floundering  and,  251. 
Fountain,  outbreaking  of,  563. 
Fountains,  to  sec,  23. 
Four,  with  wit  of,  443. 
France,  America  conquered  in,  219. 

conversation  only  in,  512. 

every  thing  happens  in,  529. 

fifty  gentlemen  in,  275. 

France  can  save,  536. 

gained  in,  305. 

have  saved,  392. 

if  St.  Helena  were,  413. 

peace  for,  401. 
Franklin,  I  succeed,  288. 

if  I  were,  114. 

language  of,  553. 

le  diyne,  227. 
Franks,  with  my,  152. 
Fraternity,  is  through,  283. 
Frederick's  libel,  235. 
Free,  no  people,  495. 

was  born,  140. 

will  is,  300. 

wish  to  be,  494. 


INDEX. 


589 


Freedom,  lovers  of,  79. 
open  path  for,  5ob- 
Freemen,  you  govern,  4o5. 
French,  prayers  in,  103. 

Revolution,  I  am,  404. 
Frenchman,  am  a,  o'2. 
Apollo  type  of,  60. 
born  a,  66. 
more,  one,  122. 

Frenchmen,  always  talking,  300. 
English  and,  134. 
let  all  be,  287.  _ 
Fresh,  while  grief  is,  tfiu. 
Fret,  don't,  499 
Friday,  glad  to  find,  520. 
Friend,  a  faithful,  414. 
an  old,  311. 
man  needs,  526. 
rose  without  a,  263. 
your  best,  401. 
your  fat,  74. 
Friends,  a  loss  of,  81. 
are  best,  old,  479. 
man  needs,  309. 
not  yet,  532. 
our  best,  212. 
power  gotten  by,  £&• 
save  me  from,  540. 
treasures  are  my,  163. 
were  long,  226. 
•with  candid,  542. 
Friendship,  swear  eternal,  & 

virtue  and,  451. 
Frigates,  want  of,  419. 
Frogs,  fellows  that  eat,  duo. 
Fruit,  bear  no,  442. 

metaphysics  yield  no,  552. 
no  ripe,  545. 
Fruits,  truths  are,  213. 
Funeral  oration,  difficult,  488. 
Future,  history  teaches,  32^. 

Gained  them,  in  honor,  420. 
Gains,  what  gauntlet,  38. 
Gait,  not  usual,  215. 
Gallantries,  excuse  your,  4H. 
Games,  conqueror  in,  o24. 
Garden,  Prussia  has,  315. 
Garden-wall,  look  over,  217. 
Garlic,  smelled  of,  537. 
Garments,  instructions  like,  197. 
Garrets,  lodge  in,  77. 
Garrison,  not  stronger,  17. 
Gates,  Hannibal  at,  388. 
Gaul,  strip  a,  60. 
Gazette,  have  a,  419. 
Genealogy,  not  parliamentary,  84. 
General;  barrel  to  every,  334. 

object  of  a,  13. 
Generalities,  glittering,  Io9. 
Generation,  with  men  of  one,  108. 
Genius,  Milton  a,  297. 
privileges  of,  492. 
read  works  of,  64. 
require  same,  433. 
style  of  a,  75. 
what  a,  514. 


Genius,  woman  and,  72. 
Gentle  Shepherd,  127. 
Gentleman,  a  country,  80. 
been  but  a,  545. 
distinguish  a,  310. 
he  is  a,  464. 
Majesty  not  a,  565. 
more  of  a,  288. 
no  religion  for,  116. 
Genius,  German  and,  515. 
1  Geniuses,  misfortune  of, ,451. 
Geometry,  ignorant  ot,  MX. 
Georges,  title  of,  482. 
Germany,  America  in,  1^7. 
Giant,  bones  of  a,  221. 
Gibbet,  take  away,  548. 
Gibes,  master  of,  44. 
Gifts,  new  truths  not,  99. 
Girl,  crown  a  pretty,  140. 
Girls,  wretched,  un-idead, 
Give,  for  me  to,  402. 
Glad  of,  all  men,  445. 
Glass,  house  full  of,  29. 

ideas  like,  234. 
Glorious  sword,  37. 
to  reign  is,  199. 
Glory,  die  of,  554. 

enough  for  all,  540. 
in  field  of,  419. 
live  without,  407. 
God,  agreeable  to  book  ot, 
alone  sees  us,  444. 
am  becoming  a,  538. 
attribute  of,  406. 
bless  you,  313. 
connection  with,  bU. 
die  adoring,  554. 
excessive  love  ot,  211. 
false  to  my,  54. 
for  any  thing,  thanks,  292. 
gave  it,  403. 
had  I  served,  572. 
have  loved,  513. 
himself,  it  is,  275. 
I  were,  wish  to,  427. 
if  that  is  not,  393. 
if  there  be  not  a,  58. 
in  name  of,  168. 
last  thought  to,  2/9. 
kept  it  to,  220. 
mighty  hand  of,  198. 
no  god  but,  393. 
reigns,  244. 
responsibility  to,  56,5. 
speak  with,  105. 
spirit  of,  493. 
trust  in, 166. 
what  great,  151. 
whether  he  made, 
word  of,  230. 
Gods,  language  of,  105. 
Goethe,  name  of,  394. 
Schiller  and,  Io5. 
you  are,  76. 
Going  on,  I  am,  290. 
up,  you  are,  204. 
Gold,  the  head  of,  553. 


590 


ESDEX. 


Golden,  silence  is,  487. 
Goldsmith,  Johnson  on,  259. 
Good,  brave  and,  276. 

dignities  on,  508. 

done  little,  103. 

free  to  do,  430. 

frolic  to  be,  515. 

glory  in  being,  409. 

let  us  do,  236. 

liberty  a,  80. 

nothing  too,  408. 

power  to  do,  430. 
Good-breeding,  a  man's,  135. 

merit  and,  132. 
Goods,  care  for  others',  237. 
Goose,  burn  a,  284. 
Gospel,  could  write  a,  384. 

Napoleon  on  the,  411. 
Gout,  when  I  have  the,  505. 
Govern,  how  to,  5. 
Governed,  a  nation  not,  79. 
Government,  Confucius  on,  508. 

first  object  of,  414. 

man  of,  244. 

places  given  by,  414. 

society  create,  520. 
Governments,  interests  of,  463. 
Governs,  guillotine,  34. 
Gowns,  rule  by  red,  167. 
Gracchi,  mother  of,  376. 
Grace,  in  state  of,  178. 
Graces,  Batavian,  44. 

deficiency  in,  137. 

sacrifice  to,  447. 
Grain,  eaten  forbidden,  549. 
Grammar,  am  above,  231. 
Grandees,  make  hundred,  223. 
Grandeur,  philosophy  above,  367. 
Grandison-Cromwell,  a,  389. 
Grandson,  nor  under,  482. 
Granted,  take  liberty  for,  365. 

take  nothing  for,  45. 
Grape,  little  more,  180. 
Grape-shot,  swept  with,  399. 
Gratified,  if  wishes  were,  568. 
Gratitude,  forget  the  word,  254. 
Grave,  democracy  like,  363. 

yard,  Paris  not  a,  277. 
Gravity,  risen  by,  534. 
Gray's  Elegy,  Wolfe  on,  334. 
Great,  God  alone  is,  350. 

Seal,  dinner  without,  207. 

should  not  be,  331. 
Greater,  makes  himself,  303. 
Greatness,  drinking  and,  477. 
Greeks,  Athenians  govern,  103. 
Green,  nor  so,  74. 
Gretry,  always,  264. 
Grey,  name  of,  503. 
Grief,  to  give  up  to,  409. 
Grimace,  see  the,  337. 
Grind,  knows  how  to,  479. 
Ground,  crown  on,  403. 

die  on  the,  564. 

floor,  play  on,  217. 
Grows,  grass  never,  24. 

older,  lamb,  206. 


Growth,  plant  of  slow,  127. 
Guard,  are  young,  526. 

require  no,  560. 
Guards,  up,  564. 
Guide-posts,  great  men,  535. 
Guillotine,  edge  of,  191. 

send  to,  487. 

Guillotined,  rather  be,  175. 
Guilty,  confound  innocent  and,  173. 

men  greatly,  83. 
Guinea,  change  shirt  and,  171. 

go  farther,  216. 

Gunpowder,  Frenchmen  like,  155. 
Guns,  don't  forget,  345. 
Gustavus,  daughter  of,  140. 

Habitudes,  most  familiar,  134. 
Hair,  cut  his,  281. 

faithless  in,  437. 

large  head  of,  362. 
Hairs,  respect  gray,  119. 
Halfpenny,  ghost  of,  216. 
Haman,  high  as,  285. 
Hampered,  papers  not,  236. 
Hand,  cut  off  left,  278. 

this  unworthy,  165. 
Hands,  glebe  in  own,  215. 

Las  no,  216. 

having  king  in,  167. 

if  power  is  in,  35. 

off,  63. 

where  were  your,  574. 
Hang,  not  how  to,  435. 

together,  must,  227. 
Hanged  if  you  do,  206. 

to  see  me,  167. 
Hangman,  only  a,  133. 
Happen,  best  that  could,  568. 
Happily,  to  live,  552. 
Happy,  I  die,  220,  334. 

made  two,  553. 

man  truly,  448. 

New  Year,  wish,  54. 

no  man,  508. 
Happiness,  blood  cement,  353. 

Johnson  on,  300. 
Hard,  praying,  266. 
Harlot,  morals  of  a,  137. 
Harm  in  it,  no,  215. 

love  does  more,  413. 

only  myself  did,  51. 
Hat  on,  keep  thy,  114. 
Hate,  love  as  if  should,  523. 
Hated,  some  one  more,  190. 
Hater,  a  good,  292. 
Hatred,  arms  without,  256. 
Have,  hope  I,  170. 
Hay,  eaten  forbidden,  549. 

is  pressed,  closer,  24. 
Head,  any  thing  about,  215. 

a  salmon's,  14. 

Charles  lost  his,  325. 

cut  off  his,  167. 

drink  without  a,  215. 

governed  by,  407. 

king  without  a,  273. 

nothing  but  the,  171. 


INDEX. 


591 


Head,  republic  without  a,  177. 
show  my,  177. 
tigers  crave,  192. 
two  ideas  in,  312. 
upon  my,  40. 
•want  more,  407. 
Heads  together,  put,  500. 

wrong  twist  in,  82. 
Headsman,  not  a,  121. 
Healing,  measures  must  be,  78. 
Hear  me,  will,  39. 
much,  151. 
strike,  but,  525. 
swift  to,  151. 
Hearse,  beep  your,  503. 
Heart,  aim  at,  42o. 

Calais  on  my,  419. 
carry  in  my,  393. 
heavily  on  my,  495. 
know  best  by,  377. 
man  with  bad,  155. 
memory  of,  254. 
palate  quicker  than,  104. 
reformed  his,  487. 
tear  my,  473. 
the  mother's,  50. 
understanding  of,  466. 
Ward  has  no,  465. 
what  comes  from,  15b. 
with  a  light,  209. 
Hearts,  Josephine  wins,  400. 
men  led  by,  132. 
monument  in,  5. 
reach  enemies',  5. 
Heaven,  all  going  to,  240. 
ascend  to,  353. 
fallen  from,  265. 
he  who  offends,  160. 
own  way  to,  234. 
see  all,  269. 
sought  key  of,  498. 
two  ideas  of,  502. 
He-bear,  pensioned  a,  616. 
Heel,  not  drag  at,  417. 
Hell,  descent  into,  180. 
Helm,  not  stand  at,  43d. 

sit  I  at,  49. 
Helmet,  a  Prussian,  57. 

law  safest,  153. 
Help,  countrymen  not,  M6. 
Hemlock,  drink  the,  462. 
Her,  for  glory  and, ,200. 

for  God  and,  200. 
Hercules,  a  pocket,  201. 
Here,  I  am,  283. 
Heretic,  Fenelon  a,  210. 
never  make  me,  117. 
vain  to  talk  of,  480. 
Hero,  man  must  be  a,  163. 
no  man  a,  163.  ^ 
not  man  like,  87. 
Heroes,  lineage  of,  236. 
Hiccough,  satire  on,  475. 
High,  climb  so,  169. 

play  so,  217. 
Him,  if  had  but,  57. 

never  wandered  from, 


Himself,  host  in,  471. 

man  only  knows,  138. 
turn  back  on,  101. 
Hinges,  on  golden,  563. 
Histories,  sin  writes,  253. 
History,  assassination  and,  4D. 
eye  of,  311. 

hangman  should  write,  545. 
has  invented,  181. 
man  in  this,  530. 
portrait  true,  240. 
put  me  in  his,  459. 
to  remake,  34. 
that's  ancient,  315. 
Hodman,  turn  political,  171. 
Hole,  round  men  in  wrong,  A 
rat  in,  515. 
shown  another,  I1 
Holiday,  give  boys  a,  16. 
Hollow,  you  mean,  i. 
Home,  friendships  at,  508. 
not  at,  497. 
reeling  it,  515. 
strangers  at,  156. 
wash  linen  at,  233. 
Homer,  stick  to,  433. 
Honey,  catch  flies  witn,  z<o. 
Honi  soit,  194. 
Honor,  a  great,  224. 
aim  at,  397. 
all  lost  save,  222. 
Bourbonist  by,  12o. 
confided  Poland's,  424. 
peace  with,  47. 
peace  without,  48. 
thank  you  for,  443. 
Honored,  where  virtue  is,  508. 

Hope,  8. 

inspirer  of,  156 
lost  faith  and,  378. 
while  life  there's,  146. 
triumph  of,  301. 
Horatian,  have  nothing,  45J. 
Horse,  fly  stings  a,  310. 
muzzle  cornet  ol,  5a<. 
price  of  the,  7. 

Horseback,  Robespierre  on,  511. 
Horses,  messieurs  my,  158. 

not  swap,  335. 
Hosanna,  cry  is,  167.     _ 
Hospitable,  diplomacy  is,  403. 
Hospitality,  an  immense,  283. 
Host,  carries  head  like,  1 
Hot,  oven  always,  551. 
Hothouse,  look  like, , -i4. 
Hounds,  grow   ike,  66. 
Hour,  dark  and  midnight,  127. 
emperor  for  an,  425. 
give  half  an,  390. 
hasten  last,  66. 
resolute  with  present,  Mt. 
geven  knots  an,  427. 
Hours,  three,  521. 
House,  do  not  buy,  240 

great  heart  m  little,  320. 
key  of  my,  12. 
master  in  own,  6*0. 


592 


INDEX. 


House,  sphinx  in  your,  147. 

too  great  for,  31. 
Households,  try  in  own,  362. 
Houseu,  in  glass,  285. 
Houses,  build  wooden,  436. 
Hovel,  king  dying  in,  276. 
How  many,  not,  5. 
Howe,  Philadelphia  taken,  227. 
Huguenots,  loved  the,  346. 
Human,  to  err  is,  144. 
Humane,  cruelty  to  be,  121. 
Humanity,  rights  of,  307. 
Hume,  believe  in,  556. 
Humor,  man  without,  156. 
Hung,  sure  to  be,  427. 
Hurrah,  Prague,  93. 
Hurry,  whoever  is  in  a,  134. 
Husband,  jewels  are  my,  163. 

will  take  a,  196. 

was  my,  246. 

woman  compromises,  519. 
Hydra,  rearing  a,  532. 
Hypocrisy,  organized,  41. 

I,  time  and,  250. 
Idea,  but  one,  300. 

four  words  to,  460. 

happiness  new,  473. 
Ideas,  bulldog  with  confused,  139. 

philosophical,  42. 

women  incapable  of,  551. 
Idle,  poetry  for  the,  87. 
Idleness,  grief  species  of,  310. 
Idlest  thing,  better  do,  252. 
Ignorance,  active,  69. 

decencies  of,  215. 

methodized,  432. 

well-meant,  69. 

Ill-bred,  virtuous  because,  529. 
Jllud  jucujiditm,  143. 
Illusion,  but  one,  501. 
Illusions,  series  of,  501. 
Illustrate,  painting  can,  309. 
Imagination,  not  lacking  in,  64. 

nothing  for,  408. 
Imitation,  judicious,  395. 
Immortal,  think  me,  350. 
Immortality,  belief  in,  88. 

day  like,  143. 

nothing  for,  91. 

work  for,  575. 
Impediment,  suffer  no,  385. 
Impfrium  et  libertas,  48. 
Impossible,  demand  the,  529. 

is  any  thing,  391. 

nothing  is,  65. 

overcoming  the,  391. 
Impulses,  first,  15. 

mistrust,  516. 

Inactivity,  despair  not,  83. 
Incapacity,  unrecognized,  57. 
Inch,  not  cede  an,  210. 
Inclination,  aristocrat  by,  388. 
Inconvenient,  poverty,  298. 
Incorriges,  522. 
Independence  forever,  1. 

set  up  for,  226. 


Independence,  "War  of,  228. 
India,  the  key  of,  48. 
Indigestion,  symptoms  of,  546. 
Indiscretions,  greatest  of,  461. 
Inevitable,  change  is,  45. 
Infandum  regina,  515. 
Inference,  draw  an,  567. 
Inferiority,  half-guinea's,  302. 
"  Inferno,"  translated  the,  460. 
Infidel,  Foote  an,  215. 
Infinity,  distance  of,  411. 
Ingrates,  to  make,  10. 
Ingratitude,  forget  his,  457. 

Johnson  on,  302. 
Inherited,  talent  often,  155. 
In  hoc  signo,  161. 
Inimitable,  Vendome  was,  542. 
Injuries,  not  avenge,  336. 
Injury,  irony  to,  412. 
Injustice,  do  great,  201. 

to  feel,  510. 

Injustices,  no  long,  488. 
Ink,  durable  as  your,  457. 
Inn,  life  an,  105. 
Innocent,  keep  me,  100. 
Innocently,  cannot  reign,  473. 
Innovations,  foreign,  257. 
Inquisitive  you  are,  how,  492. 
Inscriptions,  in  lapidary,  444. 
Institutions,  foundations  of,  473. 
Insubordination,  extravagance  and,  160. 
Insult,  may  take  an,  518. 
Insupportable,  she  is.  519. 
Insurrections,  sheep  and,  227. 
Intemperance,  corruption  in,  531. 
Intends,  when  God,  69. 
Intention,  difference  of,  182. 
Intentions,  paved  with  good,  69. 
Interest,  my  particular,  235. 
Interior,  man  formed  in,  320. 
Intolerance,  it  is,  391. 
Invalids,  hospital  for,  558. 
Inundation,  mole  cause,  392. 
Invasion,  case  of  actual,  446. 
Invention,  not  mother  of,  434. 
Iron,  blood  and,  55. 

king  with  better,  508. 
Irons,  tragedy  with,  311. 
Israelite,  rich  Jew  an,  272. 
Isthmus,  by  seizing,  455. 
Italians,  who  will  make,  539. 
Italy,  king  of,  90. 

minister  of,  107. 

shall  be,  539. 

soldier  of,  400. 

will  finish  alone,  124. 

Jack-boot,  king  send  his,  126. 
Jackson,  never  sailed  with,  92. 
Jail,  man  in  a,  293. 
Janitor,  make  me,  158. 
Je  suspend*,  540. 
Jean  Bart,  talk  like,  36. 
Jefferson,  epitaph  of,  288. 
Jesuits,  sow,  193. 
Jesus!  178. 
age  of,  187. 


INDEX. 


593 


Jesus,  religion  of,  411. 
Jewels,  t In-st.1  art-  my,  162. 

triumphs  are,  103. 
Jokes,  memory  for  his,  491. 
.Tu.sephine,  voice  of,  405. 
Joshua,  Holland  like, . "45. 
Journey,  going  on  my,  245. 
Judas,  bishop  like,  502. 

would  save,  283. 
Judge,  discretion  of  a,  226. 

fit,  for  a,  154. 

let  (rod  be,  168. 

quarrel  of,  282. 
Judgment,  day  of  no,  82. 

man  gains,  308. 

mistrust  the,  565. 

representative  owes,  78. 
Jure  ccvsus  vidflur,  249. 

de-vino,  85. 

Jury,  standard  of  British,  297. 
Justice,  have  had,  545. 

have  loved,  62. 

liberty  and,  82. 

posterity  do,  415. 

unsupported  by,  3. 
Justitiafiat,  372. 
J'y  8uis,fy  resterai,  365. 

Kalends,  pay  on  Greek,  25. 
Kill,  kill,  120. 

me,  let  them,  422. 

people  who,  283. 
Killed  me,  pleasantry  has,  180. 
Kindness,  conquer  by,  277. 

unremitting,  290. 
King,  a  dead, 122. 

am  now,  235. 

an  exiled,  112. 

an  honest,  539. 

a  popular,  531. 

argue  before  the,  158. 

better  die  a,  200. 

blood  of  a,  495. 

cotton  is,  489. 

courage  to  be  a,  199. 

die  for  my,  202. 

die  like,  237. 

firmness  in  a,  206. 

friend  of  the,  10. 

had  not  been,  329. 

have  killed  the,  146. 

I  am  your,  274. 

I  and  my,  572. 

if  Louis  not,  350. 

know  I  am,  247. 

like  a,  453. 

made  servant,  351. 

ministers  are,  246. 

misfortune  to  he,  353. 

not  made,  471. 

not  reigning,  154. 

put  to  death  as,  353. 

shall  save,  174. 

so  much,  love  the,  569. 

state  without,  139. 

still  a,  223. 

to  make  you,  115. 


King,  to  see  a,  25,  277. 

trade  to  be,  315. 

who  but  a,  l'.J9. 

will  be  great,  350. 

you  will  be,  174. 
Kingdom,  capital  at  end  of,  102. 

fool  less  in,  546. 

give  half  of,  436. 

nor  the,  152. 

seek  another,  8. 
Kingdoms,  given  more,  14. 

statement  of,  14. 
Kings,  Asia  two,  9. 

assembly  of,  454. 

blood  of  vanquished,  174. 

five  hundred,  285. 

friends  preferred  to,  316. 

homage  due  to,  342. 

I  pity,  552. 

if  there  are,  7. 

in  mouth  of,  291. 

justice  rule  of,  17. 

last  argument  of,  345. 

material  for  four,  350. 

noblest  occupation  of,  349. 

not  converse  with,  508. 

pit-full  of,  402. 

politeness  of,  355. 

superior  to,  234. 

women  govern,  202. 
Kitchen,  Lent  in  the,  77. 
Kites,  wind  raises,  448. 
Knack,  speech-making  a,  307. 
Knapsack,  carries  in,  414. 
Knave,  abhor  a,  133. 

king  from,  569. 
Knife,  war  to  the,  94. 
Knight  it,  will,  116. 

peasant  and,  255. 
Know,  let  upstart,  197. 

thyself,  137. 
Knowledge,  abstemiousness  and,  304. 

cisterns  of,  428. 

desire  for,  308. 

I  love,  51. 

should  possess,  399. 

there  is  no,  64. 

when  young,  plant,  132. 

young  men  gather,  484. 
Known,  are  both,  437. 

Labor,  chief  end  of,  514. 

dislike  of  intellectual,  307. 
Labors,  conscious  of,  17. 
La  Fayette,  never  forgive,  34. 
La  Fontaine  and  ancients,  322. 
Lake,  Mediterranean  a,  413. 
Lamartine,  I  prefer,  472. 
Lame,  horse  is,  247. 
Lamp,  keep  alive  the,  16. 

smell  of  the,  17. 
Landscape,  face  is  my,  456. 
Language,  speak  their,  61. 
Languages,  silent  in  seven,  476. 
Languish,  must  Brutus,  474. 
Lantern,  in  place  of,  378. 
Lass,  came  wi'  a,  198. 


594 


IXDEX. 


Last,  stick  to  your,  18. 

would  it  were,  120. 
Late,  begins  too,  519. 

came  too,  350. 

knew  Carnot  too,  402. 
Latin,  a  little, -336. 
Laugh,  money  makes  man,  480. 

soothsayer  must,  105. 

vulgar  often,  136. 
Laughed  at,  not  to  be,  217. 
Laughers,  spend  time  with,  307. 
Laurels,  loaded  with,  347. 
Law,  above  the,  287. 

a  higher,  489. 

Brougham  and,  73. 

forgotten  more,  379. 

freedom  of,  235. 

ignorance  of,  481. 

knows  more,  114. 

nothing  is,  86. 

outlived  the,  379. 

outside  the,  417. 

uncontrolled  by,  569. 
Law-cases,  armed  with,  128. 
Laws,  arms  and,  143. 

clearest  of,  290. 

easy  to  devise,  66. 

wit  on,  181. 

Lawsuit,  revolution  a,  175. 
Lawsuits,  forty  thousand,  391. 
Lawyers,  have  but  two,  436. 

most  good,  562. 
Lay  aside  clothes,  570. 
Leap,  made  a  good,  389. 

take  perilous,  276. 
Learn,  never  too  late  to,  384. 

not  what  you,  239. 

what  child  should,  308. 
Learning,  am  still,  384. 

grow  old,  3S4. 

most  men's,  479. 

not  wiser  for,  479. 
Least,  costs  the,  4. 

injury  to  the,  507. 

republic  divides,  527. 
Left-Centre,  France  is,  470. 
Leg,  my  favorite,  74. 
Legacy,  a  trreat,  566. 

Sidney's  best,  493. 
Legality,  kill  with,  527. 
Legions,  give  back,  26. 

master  of  thirty,  209. 
Legislation,  horn -book  of,  363. 
Legislator,  not  swaddled  into,  84. 
Legislators,  hereditary,  226. 
Legitimist,  empress  is,  418. 
Legs,  alight  on,  523. 

thinking  on,  429. 
Lemon,  twelve  miles  from,  499. 
Lenity,  acts  of,  80. 
Les  eaux,  to  see,  23. 
Letters,  in  name  of,  554. 

man  of  three,  113. 

never  given  to,  317. 
Lettrex  de  cachrt,  545. 
Levellers,  Johnson  on,  298. 
Levers,  are  two,  414. 


Liars,  greatest  fools  greatest,  136. 
Liberalism,  shrew  of,  40. 
Liberties,  people  never  give  up,  81. 
Liberty,  above  all  things,  482. 

advance  guard  ot,  365. 

agreed  as  to,  298. 

democracy  without,  419. 

die  for,  467. 

few  nations  attained,  67. 

form  of,  174. 

give  me,  280. 

God  and,  553. 

happiness  of,  467. 

here  for,  549. 

how  many  crimes,  O,  467. 

if  blood  can  cement,  536. 

Italy  made  by,  107. 

knight-errant  of,  273. 

political,  308. 

royalty  and,  52. 

sun  of,  226. 

tree  of,  33. 

we  reap,  3. 

who  give  up,  226. 

you  perceive,  227. 
Libraries,  error  belongs  to,  255. 
Libretto,  interpret  this,  139. 
Licenses,  worse  for,  31. 
Lie,  history  a,  557. 
Life,  attempted  his,  249. 

contempt  of,  367. 

few  days  of,  267. 

finest  day  of,  239. 

exile  is,  511. 

happiness  not  end  of,  49. 

jest  with,  552. 

labor  is,  283. 

nothingness  of,  64. 

reaction,  law  of,  45. 

risk  of,  472. 

rule  of  my,  87. 

save  a  man's,  60. 

spat  upon,  418. 

stoop  through,  226. 

tasted  well  of,  176. 

the  best  of,  515. 

truer  to,  405. 

united  in,  159. 
Lifetime,  in  my,  450. 
Light,  a  blaze  of,  501. 

author  has  thrown,  171. 

come  to  you,  7. 
Like,  what  you  do  not,  160. 
Lime,  sand  without,  484. 
Limitation,  knowledge  of,  423. 
Limited,  liberty  must  be,  80. 

mind  so,  308. 
Line,  broad  direct,  566. 

fight  on  this,  262. 

no  day  without,  19. 
Linen,  some  dirty,  232. 
Lines,  grandeur  of  straight,  456. 

show  six,  458. 

Lining,  gloves  without,  397. 
Lion,  find  me  a,  3. 

had  you  heard  the,  184. 
Literature,  Macaulay  out  of,  364. 


INDEX. 


595 


Literature,  raised  price  of,  292. 
Little,  Napoleon  tho,  282. 

nothing  too,  'J'.iti. 

of  infinitely,  :5ttt>. 
Liturgy,  no  cliurch  without,  480. 
Live  forever,  would  ye?  237. 

I  still,  563. 

no  longer,  324. 

proof  is,  you,  462. 
Liver,  believe  in  calf's,  106. 
Living,  bier  of  the,  34. 

go  on,  546. 

three  ways  of,  390. 

war  against,  117. 
Locks,  shake  terrible,  390. 
Locust,  rightly  called,  264. 
London,  charm  of,  300. 

Corneille  of,  248. 

happiness  of,  300. 

intelligence  of,  300. 

not  twice  in,  383. 

tired  of,  300. 

Tower  of,  101. 

walk  through,  492. 
Long,  can  this  last,  571. 

when  world  thinks,  488. 

when  sermon  too,  212. 
Longest,  those  who  love,  311. 
Loose,  thoughts,  574. 
Lord,  can  make  a,  224. 

gave  it,  404. 

of  him,  make  a,  314. 

of  Hosts,  in  name  of,  195. 

Treasurer,  lie  there,  76. 
Lords,  corrupt  House  of,  489. 

make  seven,  223. 
Lord's  Prayer,  the,  466. 
Lose,  no  soul  to,  154. 

one  life  to,  267. 
Lost,  a  battle,  564. 

all  is,  192. 

battle  is,  186. 

if  fidelity  were,  291. 

when  sympathy  is,  254. 
Louder,  cry  would  be,  211. 
Loudly,  I  praise,  102. 
Love,  delicacy  is  to,  366. 

die  for  a,  329. 

empire  upon,  411. 

French  taught  me,  208. 

friendship  and,  87. 

Germany  one  in,  256. 

he  who  does  not,  254. 

Jansenists  of,  328. 

learn  from  those  we,  255. 

marries  for,  64. 

nothing  so  dear  as,  196. 

obedience  by,  196. 

reason  and,  50. 

revolution  by,  535. 

vanity  and,  181. 

victory  over,  413. 
Loved,  have  always,  213. 

man  to  be,  81. 
Lover,  if  I  had,  487. 

like  a,  460. 
Low,  pitched  Whiggism,  83. 


Loyalty,  only  feeling  of,  168. 
Lucullus,  greatest  part  for,  358. 

sups  with,  ;j.")7. 
Luck,  no  more,  346. 
Lucky,  majesty  is  always,  65. 
Luther,  take  care  of,  3<>0. 
Luttrell,  good  things  of,  361. 
Luxuries,  give'  me,  19. 

Greek  and  Latin  are,  452. 
Lyre,  one  less,  483. 
Lysanders,  two,  9. 

Macaulay,  Sydney  Smith  on,  364. 

Windham  on,  364. 
Macedon,  men  of,  8. 

teacheth  king  of,  18. 
Machiavelli,  Attila  educated  by,  24. 
Machine,  soldier  a,  399. 
Machinery,  civilization  dwarfs,  440. 
Mad,  English  go,  545. 
Madam,  may  not  call  you,  196. 
Madder,  might  grow,  567. 
Made,  must  be,  361. 

revolutions  not,  440. 
Madman,  angry  man  a,  105. 

the  only,  279. 
Magdeburg,  but  with,  402. 
Madrigals,  Jewish  history  in,  237. 
Magic-lantern,  looking  into,  392. 
Magician,  wand  of  the,  220. 
Majesty,  dishonor  far  from,  270. 

precede  your,  459. 

well  done,  your,  36. 
Magnanimous,  nation  more,  496. 
Magnificent,  it  is,  68. 
Majority,  Germany  reached,  58. 

lent  me  his,  126. 

one  a,  441. 

oppression  of,  250. 
Maker,  adores  his,  71. 
Malice  toward  none,  with,  335. 
Jfdluin  pro/iibitunit  207. 
Man,  a  Boston,  19. 

a  cunning,  50. 

act  of  free,  464. 

a  dying,  228. 

a  gallant,  479.  < 

a  good, 409. 

a  liberal,  220. 

ambassador,  an  honest,  573. 

an  extraordinary,  221. 

an  honest,  400,  539. 

a  proscribed,  282. 

a  tete-a-tete,  305. 

born  a  free,  207. 

Christ  not  a,  411. 

die  like  brave,  268. 

difficulty  good  for,  84. 

Diogenes  a  wise,  379. 

fear  witty,  488. 

glad  am  not  a,  141. 

hear  an  old,  28. 

here  is  Plato's,  189. 

ill-tempered,  no,  515. 

illustrious,  561. 

is  the  only,  389. 

judgment  in  a,  481. 


596 


INDEX. 


Man,  killed  one,  162. 

king,  country  made,  526. 

littleness  of,  396. 

lodged  like  a,  421. 

man  interesting  to,  258. 

much  beast  in,  155. 

Napoleon  the,  258. 

never  feared,  117. 

never  knew  a,  83. 

not  a  better,  113. 

not  a  serious,  57. 

nothing  resembles  a,  124. 

seeking  a,  189. 

seeking  an  honest,  189. 

sick  old,  426. 

so  great  a,  518. 

soul  of  a  free,  33. 

speech  given  to,  516. 

style  is  the,  74. 

take  me  for,  141. 

Tarquin  excellent,  503. 

that  is  a,  258. 

the  real,  50. 

throne  is  a,  410. 

to  become  a  great,  191. 

to  have  made,  328. 

two  civilizers  of,  47. 

virtue  in  great,  561. 

Washington  the  greatest,  561. 

well  and  ill  bred,  313. 

wit  belongs  to,  75. 

would  not  be  a,  87. 

why  this,  351. 

you  are  a,  258. 
Manifestoes,  are  no,  566. 
Mankind,  expect  less  of,  309. 

proper  study  of,  84. 

satire  upon,  556. 

the  mass  of,  488. 
Manners,  forget  good,  150. 
Manors,  two  little,  373. 
Mansfield,  Johnson  o,n,  373. 
Mantinea,  Leuctra  and,  5. 
Mantle,  under  your,  238. 
Mantua  niinium,  514. 
Ma  me i?  hcec  inimica,  493. 
Many,  madness  of,  451. 

they  are,  330. 

wisdom  of,  471. 
Marat,  Paris  and,  374. 

praised  by,  441. 
Marble,  all  truths  not,  140. 

Napoleon  of,  273. 
March,  God's  grenadier,  17. 
Marius,  dare  to  kill,  376. 

many  a,  89. 
Marly,  rain  at,  343. 
Marriage,  Johnson  on,  301. 

Rogers  on,  466. 

Selden  on,  480. 

to  make  good,  13. 
Mai •Ty,  bow  can  bishop,  500. 
Marti' t),  in  possession  of,  428. 
Martyr,  cause  makes,  161. 

heart  on  being,  570. 
Masquerade,  mass  in,  46. 
Mass,  not  written  for,  258. 


Mass,  Paris  worth  a,  277. 

three  kingdoms  for,  286. 
Massena,  Wellington  on,  566. 
Masses,  with  opinions  of,  415. 
Master,  be,  404. 

majesty  is  the,  158. 

use  the  best,  145. 

we  have  a,  496. 

you  are  the,  369. 
Masters,  educate  our,  46. 
Matter,  name  no  despicable,  255. 

occasion  a  great,  270. 
Maxims,  man  of,  155. 
Me,  in  vain  you  menace,  49. 

it  is  in,  39. 

listened  to,  410. 

make  them  on,  115. 
Meal,  a  full,  295. 
Mean,  the  golden,  356. 
Means,  noble  ends  by  noble,  372. 
Measles,  love  like,  88. 
Measured  himself,  not  yet,  271. 
Measures,  not  men  but,  73. 
Medicine,  sharp  and  fair,  456. 
Medium,  simplicity  exact,  457. 
Meet  you,  get  Smith  to,  503. 
Meekly,  carry  liquor,  429. 
Melancholy,  employment  prevents,  23. 
Melt,  snow-king  will,  267. 
Member,  interrupted  by  new,  428. 
Memories,  drink  no,  515. 
Memory,  cultivating  his,  147. 

for  name  and,  30. 

good  acts  in,  105. 

perish  our,  35. 

what  a,  462. 
Men,  above  rank  of,  451. 

call  great,  552. 

can  govern,  190. 

cast  two,  175. 

drunk  with,  175. 

figures  not  party,  42. 

flatterers  and  learned,  414. 

good  and  bad,  155. 

govern  wise,  538. 

I  love,  141. 

if  he  despises,  523. 

indulgence  to,  467. 

kings  nothing  but,  218. 

manufactory  of,  227. 

marry  brave,  330. 

measures,  not,  72. 

one  of  handsomest,  346. 

place  to  better,  168. 

religion  of  sensible,  114. 

school  of  great,  412. 

self-made,  440. 

send  six  hundred,  32. 

ships  against,  439. 

the  two  greatest,  561. 

two  despised,  469. 

two  insignificant,  558. 

use  when,  3. 

venerable,  562. 

wall  of,  362. 

women  below,  133. 

young,  not  yet,  360. 


INDEX. 


597 


Menccrates,  Agesilaus  to,  3. 
Merchants,  nation  of,  406. 
Merciful,  be  called,  436. 

chief  of  the,  175. 
Mercy,  a  crowning,  167. 
Merit  not  neglected,  309. 
Messages,  best  of,  81. 
Metamorphoses,  poets  love,  151. 
Metaphysics,  Voltaire  on,  551. 
Metre,  Virgil's  diction  and,  156. 
Metternich,  Mazarin  and,  382. 
Middleman,  parliamentary,  40. 
Milestone,  mile  and,  2UO. 
Millstone,  heart  like,  360. 
Miles,  go  one  hundred,  510. 
Miltiades,  trophies  of,  524. 
Mind,  force  the,  211. 

joy  of  the,  328. 

made  up  my,  458. 

mirror  of  my,  285. 

not  position'but,  466. 

only  the,  325. 

reading  does  to  the,  343. 

voice  of  his,  52. 
Minds,  gain  on  men's,  30. 

we  exchanged,  272. 
Minister,  be,  57. 

Walpole  a,  558. 
Ministers,  when  we  are,  527. 
Ministry,  aim  of  my,  458. 
Minutes,  take  care  of,  131. 
Mire,  blood  and,  490. 
Mirror,  savage  buys,  219. 
Misanthrope,  man  not,  111. 
Mischief,  do  small,  436. 

little  know  the,  423. 
Misery,  blinded  by,  82. 

solace  our,  330. 
Misfortune,  man  talks  of,  306. 
Misfortunes,  if  all  our,  507. 
Mission,  a  certain,  257. 

have  a,  416. 

Mistaken,  were  both,  547. 
Mists,  not  give  up,  573. 
Mock  turtle,  290. 
Moderate,  world  not,  258. 
Moderns,  not  resemble,  67. 
Mole,  when  one  is,  529. 
Molehill,  Europe  a,  413. 
Moliere,  would  it  were,  157. 
Moment,  the  fitting,  271. 

life's  beautiful,  320. 

myself  and  lucky,  271. 

wait  a,  450. 

Monarch,  die  than  be,  330. 
Monarchs,  asylum  of,  234. 

two  mightiest,  250. 
Monarchy,  are  making  a,  313. 

an  ancient,  434. 

France  absolute,  380. 

support  of,  415. 
Money,  man  that  wants,  525. 

merit  and,  298. 

money,  more,  173. 

ninepence  in, 2. 
Monkey,  he  that  keeps,  478. 
Monkeys,  I  dislike,  361. 


Monkeys,  nation  of,  497. 
Mons,  date  from,  347. 
Monster,  well-combed,  473. 
Mont  Blanc,  prospect  of,  220. 
Montenotte,  dates  from,  318. 
Monument,  exploits  are,  5. 
Money,  any  thing  for,  390. 
Monseigneur,  no,  have  you,  445. 
Moon,  never  relish  full,  290. 
Morality,  substitute  for,  308. 
More  light,  258. 
Morning,  awoke  one,  87. 

exalted  in,  402. 

lose  hour  in,  568. 

spectacles  in,  514. 
Mortal,  thou  art,  437. 
Mortals,  live  among  such,  375. 

only  leave,  328. 
Mortar,  bray  him  in  a,  73. 
Moscow,  man  has  his,  441. 
Mother,  one  tear  of,  10. 
Mothers,  appeal  to,  375. 

France  needs,  409. 
Mottoes,  Charles  Fifth's,  118. 
Mountain,  Mohammed  to,  394. 

over  the,  239. 
Mourning,  nations  wear,  228. 

no  Athenian  in,  435. 
Mouse,  shoe  gnawed  the,  106. 
Mouth,  in  everybody's,  132. 

joke  in  your,  492. 

speak  good, 197. 

words  fitted  to,  481. 
Mud,  black  spot  in,  461. 

regret  their,  366. 
Muddle,  meddle  and,  185. 
Mullets,  enjoy  these,  143. 
Multitude,  tyranny  of,  83. 
Murder,  intended,  465. 

not  commit,  495. 
Murdered,  we  are,  355. 
Murdering  it,  are,  215. 
Muses,  thirty-nine,  502. 
Music,  architecture  petrified,  255. 

great  man  copies,  469. 

import  your,  491. 

Johnson  on,  307. 

take  care  of  my,  270. 

shall  be  my,  559. 

this  is  the,  559. 

Musical  glasses,  men  like,  156. 
Musket,  a  bright,  409. 
Mustered,  see  friends,  290. 
Muzzle,  place  me  before,  323. 
Myself  here,  to  see,  ',>4-'>. 

nothing  contraband  but,  550. 
Mystery,  secrecy  or,  311. 

the  Asian,  44. 

Naked,  not  quite,  239. 
Name,  friendship  a,  406. 

1  begin  my,  544. 

justice  to,  11. 

memory  of  great,  42. 

nothing  in,  ill. 

not  see  your,  427. 

virtue  a,  96. 


598 


INDEX. 


Napoleon,  if  I  were  not,  8. 
Napoleon's  cocked  hat,  125. 
Napping,  not  caught  us,  535. 
Narrative,  fancy  in,  491. 
Nation,  address  a  new,  263. 

a  shop-keeping,  406. 

legislate  for,  219. 

long  live  the,  497. 

the  assembled,  387. 

the  great,  400. 
National,  not  liberal  but,  527. 

religion  not,  391. 
Nations,  gayety  of,  305. 

kings  are  for,  281. 

magistrates  for,  493. 

law  of,  101. 
Natural  boundaries,  75. 

pity  not,  296. 
Nature,  arts  from,  451. 

d ,  239. 

ennobled  by,  573. 

grapes  true  to,  575. 

Gray  and,  573. 

habit  second,  188. 

sublimities  in,  220. 

talents  and,  236. 

thought  unseen,  272. 
Ne.  sutor,  18. 

Neapolitans,  two  hundred,  374. 
Near,  Devil  very,  266. 
Nee  jituribus  impar,  344. 
Necessary,  no  man,  413. 

things  unknown  not,  181. 

when  laws  are,  454. 
Necessities,  thy,  493. 
Neck,  bend  thy,  152. 

broken  my,  395. 

sever  this,  96. 

people  but  one,  96. 
Necker,  every  thing  in,  388. 
Necks,  reins  over,  150. 
Need,  know  wrhat  they,  189. 
Neglected,  merit  not,  309. 
Neighbor  and  I,  my,  428. 

cannot  love  our,  69. 
Nero,  bring  forth  a,  140. 

submit'to,  204. 
Never,  Rouher's,  468. 
New,  valuable  not,  260. 
Newmarket,  wood  at,  29. 
News,  tell  us  good,  315. 
Newspapers,  fear  three,  407. 

government  of,  407. 
Niagara,  war  and,  441. 
Night,  Bliicher  or,  564. 

Grouchy  or,  564. 

many  a  wakeful,  211. 

practising  all,  172. 
Nightingale,  have  heard,  3. 
NH  <«lmirari,  454. 
Nine,  when  you  are,  519. 
Noble,  he  is,  83. 
Nnbk-man,  behave  to  a,  298. 
Nobles,  can  make,  223. 
Noblexse  oblige,  311. 
Nobody,  More  or,  397. 
Nod,  upon  a  single,  97. 


Nodded,  Demosthenes,  144. 
Nods,  the  government,  427. 
Noise,  made  enough,  177. 

make  least,  480. 

most  tolerable,  307. 
Non  Angli,  263. 
Nondum,  118. 

Non-intervention,  Talleyrand  on,  521. 
Non  possumus,  150. 
Nonsense,  liberalism  only,  59. 

not  heard  so  much,  446. 

poetry  ingenious,  422. 

round  corner  of,  403. 

will  take  the,  568. 
Norman,  Fontenelle  a,  554. 
North,  first  word  in,  469. 

know  no,  149. 

Semiramis  of,  232. 

Solomon  of,  232. 
Note,  world  little,  334. 
Nothing,  aims  at,  568. 

are  worth,  5. 

call  that,  286. 

civility  costs,  74. 

die  for,  442. 

have  learned,  521. 

he  knows,  260. 

he  touches,  259. 

know  I  know,  433. 

must  insult,  257. 

in  it,  was,  247. 

king  of,  103. 

texts  prove,  480. 

then  it  is,  389. 

verse  proves,  481. 

when  member  means,  126. 

wise  men  say,  478. 

zealous  for,  260. 
Notre-Dame,  candles  in,  569. 
Noughts,  one  of  the,  289. 

0  tempora,  142. 
Oak,  nodosities  of,  84. 

Thurlow  a  sturdy,  531. 
Oaks,  lie  like,  86. 
Oath,  have  his,  453. 
Oatmeal,  literature  on,  499. 
Oats,  Johnson's  definition  of,  295. 
Obey,  learned  to,  508. 
Obeyed,  destiny  must  be,  401. 
Object,  more  horrible,  99. 
Obligation,  cancel  all,  381. 
Oblivion,  drop  into,  309. 

worthy  of,  158. 
Obscurity,  leap  into,  276. 
Occasion,  disagreeable  on,  361. 
Ochre,  the  worst,  289. 
O'clock  it  is,  what,  469. 
Offence,  a  worse,  219. 
Office,  appointments  to,  236. 

have  no,  160. 
Oil,  whole  witji,  214. 
Omens,  have  better,  106. 

the  best  of,  106. 
Omnia  vincit  Amor,  54. 
Omniscience  his  foible,  502. 
One,  one  and  two  make,  458. 


INDEX. 


599 


One,  enough  for,  491. 

when  will),  -2. 
One's  self,  throw  oft',  181. 
Open,  live  with  door,  191. 

to  me,  321. 

Operation,  .1  surgical,  295. 
Opinion,  of  a  different,  504. 

of  majesty's,  (>.">. 

party  organized,  45. 

power  and,  520. 

wisdom  of,  520. 
Opinions,  reiterate  their,  258. 

conflict  of  armed,  445. 
Opportunism,  243. 
Opportunities,  uncommon,  164. 
Opposition,  gentlemen  in,  428. 
Orange,  we  squeeze  an,  233. 
Orator,  never  poet  or,  148. 
Orators,  heard  great,  377. 

law  and,  508. 

passions  are,  461. 
Oratory,  Burke's,  5G9. 
Order,  symbol  of,  416. 
Ore  rotunda,  the,  249. 
Organs,  men  as,  252. 
Orthography,  not  attend  to,  232. 
Ossian,  Johnson  on,  306. 
Ostentation,  scorn  of,  379. 
Ostrich,  should  be  an,  503. 
Otium  cum  dignitate,  143. 
Outside,  neither  inside  nor,  548. 
Overrate,  young  people,  136. 
Overtake  them,  sure  to,  289. 
Own,  (jod  recognize  his,  121. 

sayings,  my,  113. 

what  I  will  with,  126. 
Oxen,  who  drives  fat,  307. 
Oyster,  swallowed  an,  286. 
Oyster-pie,  last  piece  of,  324. 
Oysters,  finish  these,  54. 

Pack-horse,  posterity  a,  44. 
Packer,  he  means,  519. 
Pactolus,  dipped  in,  310. 
Padding,  is  no,  88. 
Page,  double  down  a,  397. 

mention  the,  202. 
Pain,  cure  not  worth,  376. 

pleasure  and,  480. 

shared  the,  178. 
Painter,  I  too  a,  164. 
Painters,  God  makes,  319. 
Painting,  I  hate,  248. 
Pairing,  less  by,  396. 
Palace,  can  quit,  247. 

you  were  in  a,  555. 
Papacy,  let  us  enjoy,  329. 
Paradise,  associates  of,  394. 

gates  of,  383. 

my  brothers  of,  177. 

saints  in,  399. 

Paradoxes,  swaggering,  84. 
Pardon,  came  to  be  asked,  391. 

she  ask  my,  116. 

you,  I  would,  353. 
Parenthesis,  speech  like,  170. 
Paris,  Americans  go  to,  19. 


Paris,  better  Prussians  in,  208. 
Parliament,  first  man  in,  447. 

proof,  not,  110. 

reform  the,  98. 
Parmenio,  if  I  were,  9. 

Philip  and,  11. 
Parsimony,  smiled  at,  337. 
Part,  acted  my,  28. 

Fortune  no,  533. 
Parties,  heads  of,  558. 
Parts,  uncommon,  164. 
Party,  educate  our,  46. 

best,  he  serves,  272. 

juggling  trick  of,  299. 

to  Orleans',  389. 
Parvenu,  not  a,  527. 
Passage,  discover  polar,  561. 

looking  for  a,  37. 
Passed,  never  have,  214. 
Passengers,  no  objection  to,  290. 
Passion,  engage  ruling,  131. 

great  ambition,  414. 
Passions,  God  gives  to,  484. 
Past,  earth  symbol  of,  156. 
Pastorals,  study  your,  551. 
Patience,  abuse  our,  142. 

genius  great,  75. 
Patient,  God  bless  the,  373. 

learn  to  be,  48. 
Pathway,  not  a,  437. 
Patriotism,  recant  of,  471. 
Patriots,  raised  many,  557. 
Pay,  they  sing,  they  will,  380. 
Pea,  once  ate  a,  74. 

perfection  to  the,  500. 
Peace,  a  disadvantageous,  204. 

empire  is,  416. 

hardest  terms  of,  205. 

let  me  have,  273. 

let  us  have,  262. 
Peasants,  of  seven,  223. 
Pebbles,  before  the,  243. 
Peccavi,  93. 
Peck,  halfpenny  a,  506. 
Peculiar,  national  hatred,  256. 
Pedagogue,  an  ignorant,  568. 
Pedants,  English  are,  381. 
Pedestal,  Alps  for,  186. 

an  ugly,  460. 
Peer,  like  duke  and,  270. 
Pence,  take  care  of,  131. 
People,  and  love-matches,  79. 

a  recent,  7. 

behold  these,  343. 

by  will  of,  386. 

for  law,  king,  and,  571. 

French  a  new,  111. 

government  of  the,  334. 

indictment  against,  79. 

I  and  my,  352. 

Irish  a  fair,  294. 

look  into,  131. 

love  young,  308. 

madness  of,  422. 

make  thirty-nine,  443. 

man  of  my,  115. 

midst  of  French,  415. 


600 


INDEX. 


People,  must  feed,  538. 

nothing  good  for,  257. 

nourishment  for  one,  258. 

physician  of  my,  276. 

presumption  for,  83. 

reconquered  his,  32. 

scrupulous,  501. 

silence  of,  505. 

sovereignty  in,  415. 

support  of,  415. 

trust  of  the,  249. 

Turgot  and  I  love,  351. 

unity  of,  526. 

very  dangerous,  471. 

what  a,  565. 

what  a  miserable,  162. 
Perceive,  fools  never,  134. 
Percy,  old  story  of,  493. 
Perfection,  sloe  to,  294. 
Peril,  how  great  our,  484. 
Periods,  pruner  of  my,  183. 
Perish,  artist  to,  422. 

better,  35. 

no  person,  352. 

when  Paris  shall,  177. 

would  rather,  534. 
Persevering,  victory  to,  407. 
Person,  a  superior,  43. 

Englishman  unfittest,  80. 

epitaph  for,  479. 
Personage,  Paris  a  great,  61. 
Persons,  unity  of,  191. 
Persuasion,  take  by,  53. 
Perukes,  so  many,  236. 
Pestilence,  shall  be  a,  359. 
Phantom,  overthrow  the,  547. 
Phenomenon,  beautiful  a,  257. 
Philosopher,  task  for,  316. 
Philosophy,  door  of,  208. 

first  step  towards,  188. 

sin  against,  23. 
Phocion,  to  die  with,  442. 
Phrases,  death  without,  494. 
Physic,  regimen  and,  553. 
Physician,  Moliere  and,  395. 

rather  good,  20. 
Physicians,  the  best,  499. 

nature  and,  553. 

Physiognomists,  children  are,  505. 
Pike,  keep  me  a,  275. 
Pillars  of  Hercules,  find,  404. 
Pinches,  where  shoe,  433. 
Piron,  here  lies,  444. 
Pistol,  ready  with,  263. 
Pitied,  hone'st  error,  133. 
Pitt,  hard  terras  of,  247. 
Pity,  kings  show,  331. 

me  not,  39. 
Place,  church  is  a,  83. 

dines  in  one,  466. 

never  in  right,  216. 

Paris  the,  135. 

right  man  in  right,  327. 

sold  himself  to,  414. 

will  get  a,  456. 

within  a  mile  of,  290. 

your  native,  293. 


Places,  men  grace,  4. 
Planets,  create  the,  100. 
Plato,  in  Academy  of,  398. 
Play,  good  as  a,  113. 
Players,  damned  by  bad,  260. 
Plays,  hiss  Scribe's,  272. 
Please,  say  what  they,  235. 

what  I,  224. 
Pleased,  friends  are,  465. 

is  Trajan,  546. 
Pleasure,  contempt  of,  4. 

if  life  be,  385. 

love  a,  414. 

music  only  sensual,  307. 

our  good,  224. 

Pleasure-grounds,  cultivate,  568. 
Pleasures,  dignity  in,  134. 

hypocrite  in,  312. 

no  man  takes,  134. 

pleasure  to  lacke,  332. 

value  of,  487. 
Plume,  rally  to,  221. 
Plus  ultra,  118. 
Pluto,  sup  with,  330. 
Plymouth  Rock,  fulcrum  of,  440. 
Poet,  fiddler  and,  336. 

the  true,  573. 

Poets,  superstition  and,  253. 
Poetry,  but  one,  255. 
Poison,  coffee  slow,  214. 
Poland,  end  of,  424. 
Politeness,  true,  451. 
Policy,  have  a,  262. 

surrender  of,  48. 
Politics,  no  Canaan  in,  440. 

principles  of  true,  81. 

simplified  my,  87. 
Poltroon,  none  but,  117. 
Poodles,  as  gross  as,  504. 
Poor,  no  being  so,  300. 

people  were,  384. 

provision  for,  308. 

public  is,  81. 
Pope,  Johnson  on,  297. 
Poppies,  lilies  grafted  on,  461. 
Poppy,  changed  to  a,  461. 
Populace,  spring  from,  213. 
Popularity,  complaisance  and,  448. 
Population,  the  surplice,  290. 
Ports,  ships  shall  make,  436. 
Possible,  every  thing  is,  213. 
Post-chaise,  to  ride  in,  309. 
Posterity,  few  people  reach,  45. 

go  down  to,  415. 

name  known  to,  186. 

nothing  for,  129. 

too  much  baggage  for,  550. 

why  legislate  for,  44. 
Pot,  fowl  in  his,  278. 
Potato,  gave  us  the,  273. 
Pounding,  hard,  564. 
Pourboire,  policy  of,  58. 
Power,  extent  of,  422. 

no  stretching  of,  480. 

subject  to  your,  89. 
Powerful,  ostracising  the,  363. 
Powers,  mind  of  large,  75. 


INDEX. 


601 


Practicable,  things  not,  80. 
Practices,  malignity  of,  4.">:?. 
1'racticc,  speaking  requires,  46. 
Praised,  happy  to  be,  148. 
Preachers,  actors  and,  i>o. 
Preaching,  a  woman's,  299. 
Precedent,  not  a,  219. 
Precedents,  tea-kettle,  40. 
Preceptor,  have  sought,  164. 
Precious,  time  is,  42. 
Preconceived,  all  pleasure,  312. 
Preface,  the  criminal,  461. 
Premises,  from  different,  505. 
Prerogative,  liberty  strengthens,  112. 
Presence,  a  good,  456. 

speak  in  man's,  301. 
Present,  a  greater,  118. 
President,  rather  right  than,  149. 
Press,  freedom  of,  253. 

gentleman  of,  43. 
Pretty,  is  she,  213. 
Price,  all  those  have  a,  557. 

men  beyond,  176. 
Pride,  but  with  greater,  379. 

can  see  thy,  379. 

idleness  and,  226. 
Priest,  God  made,  360. 

he  was  a,  249. 

religion  from,  260. 
Prime  minister,  want  to  be,  40. 
Prince,  a  despised,  112. 

Corneille  a,  405. 

downcast  from  his,  534. 

Eugene,  enemies  of,  541. 

plays  like,  269. 

tree  nobler  than,  451. 
Princes,  asylum  of,  430. 

fools  of,  76. 

health  of,  246. 

immortality  of,  223. 
Principal,  to  pay,  492. 
Principle,  free  trade  not,  41. 

power  to,  447. 

precedent  embalms,  42. 

represent  a,  416. 
Principles,  enlarge  his,  160. 

happy  with  their,  436. 

passions  and,  461. 

sincere  in  good,  309. 

strength  of,  311. 

women  without,  64. 
Printed,  if  page  has  been,  66. 
Prison,  world  a  large,  455. 
Pro  ari*  ftfods,  148. 
Profound,  believe  themselves,  7. 
Progeny,  devour  its,  535. 
Promise,  the  fine,  327. 
Proof,  good  needs,  ">50. 
Promise,  success  full  of,  50. 
Promises,  thinks  of  woman's,  455. 
Property,  recover  my,  394. 
Prophets,  best  of.  87. 
Prose,  Racine  of,  377. 
Proser,  a  dull,  83. 
Prospect,  Scotchman's,  293. 
Prosper,  go  on  and,  6. 
Protection,  need  of,  498. 


Province,  should  like,  487. 
Providence,  nickname  for,  111. 

partnership  with,  42. 
Province,  puni.-.h  a,  '2-',','>. 
Pruning,  killed  tree  by,  536. 
Psychologist,  Shakespeare  great,  258. 
Pulpit,  passage  from,  269. 
Pummelled  them,  we,  564. 
Puppyism,  dogmatism  is,  290. 
Pure,  blood  so,  34. 
Purgatory,  release  from,  384. 
Purple,  within  is,  10. 
Purse,  only  need  a,  329. 
Purses,  thieves  give  up,  70. 
Pyramids,  from  summits  of,  399. 

men  like,  50. 
Pyrenees,  no  more,  348. 

Quarter,  see  first,  482. 
Quarterly,  take  it,  482. 
Quebec,  not  see  English  in,  334. 
Queen,  beauty  always,  315. 

if  I  were,  513. 

serve  God  by  serving,  76. 
Question,  ignorance  never  settles,  45. 

never  asked  a,  482. 

pleasure  out  of  the,  200. 

the  Herzegovina,  63. 
Quickly,  people  grow,  412. 
Quid  rides,  172. 
Quinze,  at  hazard  or,  492. 
Quit  these,  must  J,  381. 
Quixote,  why  like  Don,  549. 
Quotation,  classical,  306. 
Quotations,  never  make,  329. 

Rabelais,  greater  genius  than,  321. 

the  soul  of,  515. 
Race,  advance  guard  of,  512. 

nationality  and,  42. 

only  man  of,  389. 
Rain,  after  thunder,  506. 
Rancor,  nothing  absurd  as,  107. 
Rank,  to  boast  of,  331. 
Ranks,  close  up  her,  487. 
Raphael,  Mozart  and,  49. 

if  nothing  in,  429. 
Rascal,  soon  make  a,  306. 
Rasselas,  mountains  of,  46. 
Rat,  smell  a,  464. 
Rawly,  heard  but,  196. 
Reaction,  attack  the,  296. 
Read,  never  learned  to,  421. 

them,  better,  170. 
Reading,  a  child's,  306. 

cultivate  love  of,  504. 

use  of,  343. 
Reality,  death  a,  256. 
Reason,  every  thing  by,  458. 

moderation  is,  243. 

solitude  dangerous  to,  320. 

want  of,  487. 

Reasoning,  populace  takes  to,  550. 
Reasons,  heart  has,  69. 

ignorant  of,  463. 

never  give,  373. 
Rebellion,  not  find  a,  226. 


602 


INDEX. 


Receiving,  capable  of,  509. 
Recognized,  titles  are,  444. 
Red,  more  of  the,  178. 
Red-coats,  beat  the,  513. 
Redemption,  symbol  of  world's,  471. 
Reed,  merciful  to,  30. 

woman  like,  568. 
Refinement,  not  God's,  50. 
Reflects,  moment  he,  88. 
Refuge,  humanity  take,  467. 

idleness  the,  134. 
Refuse,  he  could,  133. 
Refusal,  accustom  to,  189. 
Refute  it  thus,  299. 
Rc-gency,  fallen  into,  543. 
Regime,  vices  of  old,  522. 
Regiment,  not  see  a,  281. 
Regret  Danton,  you,  462. 
Regretting  myself,  am,  324. 
Rehearsals,  never  attend,  483. 
Reign,  before  my,  415. 

ceased  to,  323. 

child  will  never,  208. 

too  young  to,  351. 

younger  than,  29. 
Reigning,  is  really,  342. 
Reigns,  the  king,  525. 
Relations,  mutton  and  poor,  361. 
Relents,  my  rigor,  79. 
Religion,  difference  of,  440. 

every  man  has  his,  480. 

every  thing  but,  73. 

if  only  one,  545. 

in  sickness,  309. 

interference  in,  211. 

poetry  eloquence  of,  573. 

thicken  your,  488. 

Voltaire  and,  548. 

welfare  of,  459. 

Wotton's,  574. 
Religions,  thirty -two,  545. 
Rem  acu,  146. 

Remains,  have  been  no,  146. 
Remedy,  force  no,  71. 
Remember,  112. 
Reminiscences,  my  cook's,  519. 
Remonstrate,  not  meet  to,  491. 
Removed,  cousins  once,  503. 
Rendezvous,  a  pretty,  349. 
Repair,  friendship  in,  293. 
Repentance,  one  buys,  183. 
Repented,  year  since  he,  118. 
Representative,  a  worthy,  238. 

king  not  nation's,  244. 
Republic,  are  the  best,  322. 

divides  us  least,  527. 

dreamed  of  a,  535. 

shoot  over,  501. 

to  confirm,  536. 

Republican,  an  imperishable,  176. 
Republicans,  republic  without,_528. 
Reptile,  turn  into,  307. 
Reputation,  a  good,  488. 

not  prodigal  of,  216. 
Rescue,  unwilling  to,  457. 
Resemble  him,  like  to,  124. 
Resign,  few  die,  none,  288. 


Resign,  must  I,  352. 
Resigned,  am,  263. 
Resistance,  banner  of,  149. 
Resolution,  never  tell,  478. 
Resources,  smote  rock  of,  562. 
Respect,  bound  to,  370. 
Respected,  republic  as  much,  169. 
Rest  in,  eternity  to,  65. 
Restoration,  unconstitutional,  117. 
Resurrection,  not  till,  493. 
Retreat,  no  other,  274. 

what  beautiful,  117. 
Return,  dead  do  not,  33. 
Revenue,  frugality  a  great,  551. 
Reverence  himself,  man  should,  104. 
Reviewing,  never  read  before,  505. 
Revolution,  crowned,  1  am,  404. 

Fox  on  French,  81. 

Jesuits  of,  192. 

not  king  of,  108. 

not  narrate,  564. 

not  revolt  but,  352. 

seeds  of  a,  353. 

ship  of,  34. 
Revolutions,  forgotten  in,  412. 

twenty  volumes  and,  550. 

secret  of,  173. 

worst  of,  218. 
Reward,  public  esteem  the,  414. 

this  my,  36. 

this  is  the,  188. 
Re-ward  you,  only  to,  465. 
Rhyme,  neglect  to,  544. 
Rich,  not  too,  507. 
Ridiculous,  sublime  to,  402. 
Right,  God  and  the,  274. 

might  before,  56. 

so  heart  be,  456. 
Rights,  intelligence  has,  408. 

recollections  for,  461. 

reparation  for,  127. 
Ripe,  rotten  before,  102. 
Rise,  palm  would,  474. 
Rising,  surer  way  of,  526. 
Road,  no  royal,  208. 
Roads,  showed  me  two,  525. 
Robbed,  would  be,  461. 
Robinson  Crusoe,  no  one  read,  309. 
Rock,  peas  against  a,  268. 
Rogue,  what  a  great,  3. 
Rolling-pin,  oyster  and,  171. 
Romans  do,  do  as,  14. 
Rome,  agreeable  to,  147. 

auspicious  day  for,  358. 

the  hilt  at,  193. 

only  in,  257. 

thought  ourselves  at,  536. 
Rooms,  waited  in  outward,  137. 
Roses,  crown  of,  355. 

lying  on,  265. 

stifle  me  under,  554. 
Rosewater,  revolutions  and,  111. 
Royalist,  am  a,  52. 
Royalty,  more  royalist  than,  355. 
Ruat  caelum,  asked  to,  372. 
Rudolf,  my  own,  318. 
Hue  du  Bac,  rivulet  of,  510. 


INDEX. 


G03 


Ruin,  architects  of,  82. 

not  comprehend,  '272. 

save  city  from,  103. 
Ruined.  England  never,  76. 
Rule,  discretion  ;i  golden,  82. 

divide  to,  335. 

not  made  to,  462. 

a  practical,  411. 
Ruler.-,  people  Ibrrn,  79. 
Rules,  gold,  520. 
Runs  away,  man  that,  183. 
Russian,  scratch  a,  60. 
Rusticity,  tind  fault  with,  91. 

St.  Denis,  carry  his  like,  180. 
St.  Paul's,  stroke  dome  of,  500. 
Sacrifice,  nothing  fruitful  but,  319. 

the  last,  353. 

Saddle,  Germany  in  the,  58. 
Safe,  Old  England  is,  556. 

up,  see  me,  398. 
Sailor,  no  man  a,  293. 
Salvation,  may  win,  266. 
Samaritan,  to  do  the,  501. 
Same,  human  nature  the,  132. 
Sand,  need  no,  317. 
Sandwiches,  because  of,  567. 
Sanitqs  sanitatum,  44. 
XIDIS  culottes,  silence,  378. 
Satisfied,  not  to  be,  252. 
Sauce,  hunger  best,  507. 
Save  themselves,  nations,  174. 
Sayings,  Lamb's,  325. 
Scabbards,  languages  are,  253. 
Scaffold,  death  on,  59. 

from  scaffold  to,  439. 

go  smiling  to,  175. 

I  go  to,  iss. 

kings  led  to,  388. 

sending  me  to,  176. 
Scarecrow,  Capet  for  a,  495. 
Scene,  see  another,  571. 
Sceptre,  have  no,  550. 
Scholar,  first  Greek,  271. 
School,  prizes  in,  542. 
Schoolboy,  an  inspired,  46. 
Schoolmaster,  the  Prussian,  395. 
Science,  a  little,  6. 

polities  a,  494. 
Scotchman,  much  made  of,  294. 

starving  a,  2.)5. 
Scotland,  desert  in,  294. 

meat  and  drink  in,  294. 
Scoundrel,  refuge  of  a,  557. 
Sculls,  not  with  same,  289. 
Xt  rton  e  vero,  207. 
SeMs,  throw  up  the,  448. 
S' -ashore,  boy  on,  423. 
Seaside,  fish  rare  at,  569. 
Season,  word  in,  453. 
Seats,  hard  to  lind,  312. 
.-•  cond,  Spinola  the,  271. 
Second-hands,  clocks  with,  488. 
Secret,  woman  with  a,  104. 
Sects,  sixty  different,  545. 
Secure,  past  is,  562. 
Sedan,  Man  of,  418. 


See,  all  we,  189. 

him,  glad  to,  483. 

me  here,  not,  181. 

neither  eyes  to,  112. 

not  to,  506. 

Seeks,  superior  man,  160. 
Self,  sentiment  of,  418. 
Self-control,  Wellington's,  566. 
Self-love,  necessity  of,  451. 
Self-possessed,  power  to,  474. 
Self-respect,  the  truest,  49. 
Self-tormentor,  a,  88. 
Senator,  looked  a,  454. 
Sensations,  consciousness  of,  188. 
Sense,  English  have  more,  381. 

few  words,  much,  3<>2. 

when  cannot  talk,  170. 

wit  the  finest,  452. 
Senses,  when  in  their,  441. 
Separation,  consent  to,  248. 
Sepulchre,  throne  glorious,  200. 
Serpent,  venomous,  119. 
Servant,  wit  a  good,  520. 
Served,  country  be,  61. 
Service,  owe  the  same,  367. 

the  first,  218. 

Set,  Voltaire  about  to,  233. 
Sex,  genius  has  no,  406. 
Sexes,  are  three,  501. 
Shade,  fight  in  the,  330. 
Shadow,  afraid  of,  477. 

measure  your,  30. 

pursuing  a,  78. 
Shadows  we  are,  what,  78. 
Shakespeare,  Corneille  and,  297. 

can't  read,  248. 
Shame,  crime  makes,  161. 
Sharp  set,  very,  324. 
Shears,  marriage  like,  504. 
Sheep,  not  look  at,  206. 

Romans  like,  105. 

worn  by  a,  182. 
Shelter,  chosen  his,  360. 
Shilling,  lost  last,  219. 
Shine,  sun  shall,  22. 
Shines,  when  sun,  63. 
Ship,  burn  the,  374. 

don't  give  up,  326. 
Ship-money,  Hampden  and,  80. 
Ships,  how  many,  18. 
Shirt,  of  their  last,  119. 
Shirts,  buy  dirty,  171. 
Shopkeepers,  nation  of,  406. 
Shorter,  a  head,  397. 
Short-sighted,  best  to  be,  499. 
Shot,  willing  to  be,  472. 
Shoulders,  brought  on,  143. 

fit  my,  397. 

head  on,  453. 

if  poets  had  no,  544. 
Shuttlecocks,  game  at,  513. 
Sicker,  Turks  are,  426. 
Side,  assist  our,  16. 

rather  by  my,  238. 

sword  at  my,  279. 
Side,  time  on  our,  250. 
Siege,  govern  by  state  of,  108. 


604 


INDEX. 


Sight,  a  fine,  61. 
Sign,  a  bud,  368. 
Signal,  cannot  see  the,  420. 
Signature-machine,  a,  244. 
Signet,  am  the,  399. 
Silence,  flashes  of,  364. 

reward  of,  28. 

Silent,  when  critics  are,  549. 
Silk,  may  take  the,  171. 
Silver,  hridge  of,  13. 
Simple,  the  honestly,  434. 
Simplicity,  power  of,  573. 

sacred,  284. 

Sinecnre,  joy  of  his,  464. 
Sins,  expiation  of,  349. 

multitude  of,  205. 
Sit  down,  I  must,  128. 
Six,  drive  coach  and,  429. 
Skin,  nothing  of  bear  but,  313. 
think  through  his,  530. 
my  tyrant's,  413. 
where  lion's,  362. 
Skip,  man  must,  466. 
Slain,  my  son  is,  229. 
Slave,  government  half,  333. 
Slavery  is,  where,  334. 
nature  against,  329. 
Washington  on,  560. 
Slaves,  good  kings  are,  330. 
Sleep,  death  eternal,  217. 
1  could,  356. 
now,  I  must,  88. 
two  or  three  hours',  409. 
tyrants  never,  550. 
Sleepers,  great  eaters  and,  95. 
Sleeps,  where  wit,  213. 
Slept,  Danton  has,  462. 
Slop-pail,  is  the,  389. 
Slow,  Catholics  too,  211. 
Slowness,  boast  of,  575. 
Small-pox,  like  the,  98. 

tiger  with,  390. 
Smells  not,  gold,  537. 
Smite  her,  bear  or,  198. 
Smoke,  gold  into,  197. 

learned  to,  36. 
Snare,  mockery  and,  184. 
Snow,  pumpkin  in,  329. 
Snowballs,  Sevigne  like,  488. 
Snuff,  cities  like,  451. 

you  abuse,  156. 
Snuffers,  get  pair  of,  549. 
So,  would  have  it,  93. 
Sober,  supposing  you  go,  216. 
Society,  excellent  member  of,  551. 

mudsills  of,  489. 
Socinian,  accuse  of  being,  505. 
Socrates,  cup  of,  462. 
Solace,  Christianity  a,  411. 
Soldier,  France  a,  125. 
man  not  a,  409. 
man  would  be  a,  304. 
worse  man  better,  409. 
Soldiers,  you  go  to  fight,  540. 
Solid,  is  nothing,  470. 
Solidity,  called  your,  349. 
Solitude,  haughtiness  and,  448. 


Solitude,  inspired  in,  320. 

nothing  without,  320. 
Solon,  there  go,  73. 
Something,  painting  intermediate,  155. 

will  do,  211. 
Son,  call  me,  235. 

my  dead,  230. 

no  rascal's,  199. 

not  eldest,  445. 

rejoice  in  my,  559. 

such  father  and,  447. 

wood  to  burn,  439. 
Song,  a  careless,  556. 

valet  sings  no,  164. 
Sophocles,  Euripides  and,  510. 

if  I  am,  509. 
Sorrow,  brow  never  gave,  435. 

send  away  in,  366. 
Soul,  dominion  of,  411. 

has  a  Sunday,  268. 

have  mercy  on,  572. 

repose  of,  233. 

tragedy  warms,  412. 

would  sell  his,  522. 
Souls,  corporations  no,  154. 
Soup,  Caspian  Sea  of,  564. 
Source,  not  flow  to,  432. 
Southey,  Person  on,  452. 
Sous,  Alexanders  at  five,  550. 
Sovereign,  rock  of,  414. 
Sow,  got  the  right,  274. 
Spade,  call  spade  a,  437. 
Spain,  chateaux  in,  542. 

Spanish  in,  458. 

Spaniards,  assassins  because,  194. 
Sparing,  nature  is,  318. 
Sparta,  walls  of,  4. 
Spartacus,  Washington  slaying,  283. 
Speak,  bow  but  do  not,  552. 

he  would,  151. 

let  them,  380. 
Speaks,  he  never,  57. 

man  who  never,  528. 

of  another,  no  man,  306. 
Spears,  on  points  of,  4. 
Spectre,  this  living,  495. 
Speech, a  bad, 219. 

made  a  better,  220. 

same  with  your,  278. 
speak  a  king's,  220. 
Speed,  his  with,  400. 
Spell,  not  by  a,  515. 
Spelling,  three  mistakes  in,  368. 
Spent,  no  money  better,  296. 
Spirit,  gifted  with,  562. 
Spiritual  court,  put  into,  292. 
Spits,  nothing  turns  on,  202. 
Spoil  all,  boy  will,  337. 
Spoils,  to  victors  belong,  288. 
Spoken,  truth  not  to  be,  213. 
Sponge,  Sunday  a,  50. 
Spoons,  count  our,  296. 
Spot,  country  is,  386. 
out,  damned,  501. 
Sprinkling,  a  handsome,  248. 
Spouter,  an  itinerant,  44. 
Spy,  duty  of,  412. 


INDEX. 


605 


St.  Peter's,  to  judge,  440. 

Stage,    hur.-es   olf  till',    72. 

wine  oil' the,  2sX). 
Stagger,  humanity  may,  444. 
Stairs,  kicked  up,  113. 

low  life  above-,  483. 
Stalk,  to  the  naked,  2:»5. 
Stamp  Act,  republication  of,  249. 

soldiers  of  old,  565. 
Stand,  la-re  I,  359. 

where  to,  21. 
Standing,  emperor  die,  355. 

king  should  die,  355. 
Star,  await  my,  124. 

this  hairy,  533. 
Starlings,  war  upon,  437. 
Starvation,  love  and,  328. 
Starve,  don't  let  Nelly,  116. 
State  affairs,  engage  in,  506. 

Austria  not  a,  261. 

a  well-governed,  254. 

enemies  of  the,  459. 

first  servant  of,  235. 

free  church  in  free,  108. 

I  am  the,  338. 

present  not  happy,  481. 

sinews  of,  145. 

the  ideal,  307. 

treasures  of  the,  330. 
Statesman,  almost  a,  382. 

no  more  a,  40. 

truth  from,  440. 
Station,  retire  to  private,  316. 
Stations,  those  who  fill,  366. 
Statuary,  value  of,  303. 
Statue,  offer  me  a,  5. 

Pompey's,  146. 

set  up  the,  538. 

that  my,  5. 

where  is  Cato's,  104. 
Statues,  preferred  the,  510. 
Steeple,  fitter  for,  171. 

man  fell  from,  232. 
Steer  clear  of  alliances,  561. 
Step,  only  first,  180. 
Stew,  let  Paris,  59. 
Stick  there,  it  shall,  200. 
Stock, a  barren, 197. 
Stocking,  mud  in  silk,  523. 
Stomach,  on  whose,  501. 
Stone,  laid  first,  315. 
Stones,  sermons  in,  51. 

words  cheaper  than,  207. 
Stools,  sit  on  two,  148. 
Stranger,  with  damp,  74. 
Strungulatus  pro  republica,  245. 
Stratum,  new  social,  243. 
Street,  in  the,  263. 
Stricken,  strike  or  be,  198. 
Strike,  but  hear,  525. 

strike,  man,  456. 
Stronger,  women  never,  181. 
Struggle,  an  irrepressible,  489. 

march  and,  359. 
Study,  better  half  of,  360. 

live  to,  30. 

most  arts  require,  135. 


Study,  patience  fruit  of,  480. 
Still!',  was  ever  such,  248. 

write  such,  3UG. 
Stupid,  would  be,  322. 
Style,  a  writer's,  75. 

improve  your,  368. 
Subject,  majesty  not  a,  54. 

with  a  bad,  147. 
Subjective,  sinking  into,  138. 
Subjects,  king  made  for,  77. 

live  on  my,  352. 

reform  my,  436. 

sense  of  my,  246. 

so  much  for,  352. 
Sub-lieutenant,  appearance  of,  412. 

honor  to  be,  405 
Submit,  he  must,  244. 
Subordination,  benefit  of,  298. 

friend  to,  298. 

Substantive,  adjective  enemy  of,  550. 
Succeed,  copies  never,  282. 

he  will,  389. 
Succeeded  him,  I,  288. 

I  have,  162. 

Successor,  never  kill  your,  484. 
Sutler,  I  do  not,  214. 
Suffering,  tired  of,  375. 
Sufficient,  when  firmness,  415. 
Suicide,  temptation  to,  433. 
Suit,  humanity  won,  323. 
Suits,  all  new,  491. 
Sulking,  Russia  not,  261. 
Sully,  minister  like,  279. 
Sum,  a  pretty,  206. 
Sun,  leave  setting,  531. 

soul  like,  257. 

worship  rising,  531. 
Sunday  best,  democracy  in,  57. 
Suns,  heaven  bear  two,  9. 
Sunshine,  out  of  my,  8. 
Superannuation,  history  of,  43. 
Superior,  have  a,  114. 

law  no,  507. 

Superiority,  an  evident,  218. 
Superiors,  no,  187. 
Sure,  calling  and  election,  78. 
Surrenders,  marshal  never,  423. 

Taylor  never,  180. 
Survive,  if  I,  94. 
Sweden,  fitter  for  queen  of,  140. 
Sweet,  danger  is,  157. 
Swim,  know  how  to,  512. 

sink  or,  1. 

Switzerland,  pilgrimage  to,  220. 
Sword,  bear  my  own,  119. 

have  sharpest,  442. 

Jesuits  a,  193. 

poke  not  fire  with,  455. 

tied  to  his,  147. 

want  a,  496. 

Symmetrically,  perish,  367. 
System,  a  corrupt,  296. 

Table,  only  the,  206. 

set  a  good,  403. 
Tacitus,  head  is,  111. 

Johnson  on,  302. 


606 


INDEX. 


Tacitus,  woman  speaks,  218. 
Tail,  cut  oft'  his,  243. 
Tailor,  dissatisfied  with,  436. 
Take  down,  more  to,  448. 

me,  afraid  he'll,  158. 

them,  come  and,  330. 
Talent,  have  some,  50. 
Talents,  career  open  to,  414. 
Tales,  never  tell,  301. 
Talk,  neither  walk  nor,  464. 

no  small,  566. 
Tall,  must  be  too,  197. 
Tamerlane,  route  of,  407. 
Tardiness,  do  not  mean,  303. 
Tarpeian  Rock,  Capitol  to,  90. 
Taste,  Eldon  on,  293. 

symptoms  of,  201. 
Taxation,  impatience  of,  101. 
Taxes,  death  and,  227. 
Tea-cup,  Euphrates  into,  365. 
Tea-kettle,  a  boiling,  500. 
Tea-pot,  tempest  in,  332. 
Tear,  dries  soon,  148. 
Tears,  between  sighs  and,  26. 

the  last,  12. 

thought  of  my,  159. 

unmoved  by,  414. 
Tedious,  you  were,  78. 
Teens,  majority  in  its,  43. 
Teeth,  wear  out  our,  477. 

who  has,  343. 
Telegraph,  lies  like,  59. 
Temple  Bar,  heads  upon,  273. 
Temple  of  Fame,  an  itch  in,  289. 
Temples,  consecrated,  208. 
Ten,  nine  and  one  are,  216. 
Ten  thousand,  man  who  spends,  306. 
Tents,  cities  not  taken  in,  266. 
Terence,  am  not,  232. 
Terrible,  let  us  be,  174. 
Terrier  party,  the,  71. 
Territory,  liberator  of,  528. 
Terror,  deliver  from,  271. 
Testimonials,  Disraeli  on,  45. 
Teutonic  order,  hog  to,  192. 
Texts,  fools  make,  240. 

worse  for,  470. 
Thankful,  rest  and  be,  472. 
Theism,  last  word  of,  273. 
Themistocles,  you  are  not,  523. 
Theologian,  wise  man  and,  205. 
Thermometers,  friends  are,  63. 
Thief,  partaker  bad  as,  135. 

the  impenitent,  40. 
Tiling,  art  a  jealous,  385. 

equity  a  roguish,  479. 

hunger  a  terrible,  23. 

8ay  uncivil,  306. 

some  bad,  441. 

sovereign  begins  every,  316. 

the  important,  253. 

the  last,  432. 

youth  a  fine,  570. 
Things,  are  three,  503. 

could  see,  287. 

discreet  in  all,  566, 

fear  two,  359. 


Things,  flowers  sweetest,  49. 

in  useless,  19. 

masters  of,  479. 

moderation  in  all,  151. 

saw  curious,  164. 

spoils  two  good,  325. 

war  demands  three,  145. 
Think,  every  man  must,  480. 

1  do  not,  400. 

right  to,  302. 
Third  Estate,  what  is,  109. 

is  a,  275. 

Thirst,  Hunger  wed,  430. 
Thirteenth,  It  is  the,  522. 
Thorns,  life  sown  with,  552. 
Thought,  idolatry  in,  481. 

insurrection  of,  441. 

learning  without,  159. 

sober,  second,  15. 

style  dress  of,  75. 

to  dissimulate,  516. 
Thoughts,  mistakes  his,  155. 

no  depraved,  159. 

second,  15. 

speech  to  conceal,  516. 
Three-decker,  that,  432. 
Three,  did  against,  497.     < 

I  have, 151. 
Throat,  hast  me  by,  437. 

valet  to  cut,  550. 
Throne  and  king,  410. 

power  behind,  127. 

is  but  one,  528. 
Thrones,  topple  down,  441. 
Thunder,  steal  my,  185. 
Thunderbolt,  revolution  like,  473. 
Tickle  him  yourself,  318. 
Tiger,  half  monkey,  half,  497. 

more  cruel  than,  159. 
Tigers,  wonder  are  not,  343. 
Tight,  why  shoes  are,  206. 
Time,  Bayard  of  our,  39. 

enough,  will  be,  421. 

hour  of  lost,  252. 

never  had,  424. 

sands  of,  407. 

scythe  of,  412. 

things  last  our,  449. 

want  of,  288. 

Time-pieces,  Charles  V.  and,  118. 
Times,  begun  several,  39. 
Timid,  am  somewhat,  284. 
Tiresome,  no  one  is,  107. 
Tithes,  modus  in,  84. 
Title,  a  barren,  84. 

that  bewildering,  40. 
Titles,  orders  and,  60. 
Toad,  habitation  for,  310. 
To-day,  never  do,  87. 
Toga,  arms  yield  to,  142. 
Tolerable,  life  quite,  331. 
Tolerated,  error  may  be,  287. 
To-morrow,  put  off  till,  130. 

wrestles  with,  382. 
Tongue,  fear  Pulteney's,  558. 

held  his,  487. 

sufficient,  one,  386. 


INDEX. 


G07 


Top,  froth  on,  f>4">. 
Tin-lures,  accept  nameless,  409. 
Tory,  Conservative  a,  •_'.".'.>. 
Touchstone,  tried  with,  138. 
Touchwood,  like,  2ti!i. 
Ton  jours  jn-rili'i.1',  '->s>0. 
To ute  fenunt'  r<trie,  224. 
Trade,  harassed  every,  47. 

not  spoil  the,  315. 

royalist  by,  -'H4. 
Trades,  God  knows,  360. 
Tragedies,  imperial  and  domestic,  310. 
Tragedy,  abuse-  a,  '297. 

while  awaiting  the,  552. 
Traitor,  am  no,  4.">6. 

call  man,  209. 
Trajan,  mind  of,  11. 
Transubstantiatipn,  Sclden  on,  480. 
Trappings,  oft*  with,  4U4. 
Travelling,  Johnson  on,  305. 

use  of,  311. 

Travels,  go  again  to,  115. 
Treason,  1  love,  25. 

is  neither,  539. 

not  committed,  398. 

in  state  of,  523. 
Treasure,  time  only,  252. 
Treasury,  Nestor  of,  446. 
Tree,  he  is  a.  36. 

Swift  and  the,  515. 
Tremble,  others  will,  162. 
Trembles,  Felix,  126. 
Tribute,  admiration  forced,  428. 
Tried  me,  have  not,  215. 
Trifle,  the  smallest,  396. 
Trifles,  genealogies  no,  132. 

men  led  by,  414. 
Trip-hammer,  a,  99. 
Triumph,  if  Napoleon,  511. 

leave  in,  89. 

Troops,  die  in  midst  of,  418. 
Troubled,  men  not,  481. 
Troublesome,  great  men,  258. 
Trousers,  steam-engine  in,  564. 
True,  would  be  the^  472. 
Trumps,  if  dirt  were,  324. 
Trunks,  staid  to  pack,  98. 
Truth,  every  man  seeks,  132. 

from  error  to,  284. 

greater  the,  371. 

Greeks  told,  219. 

man  that  seeks,  234. 

noble  to  publish,  309. 

sacrifice  life  to,  469. 

skin  of,  49. 

speak  the,  574. 

that  is,  480. 

way  to  find,  480. 
Truths,  error  precedes,  433. 

handful  of,  213. 

there  are,  213. 
Try  me,  326. 

sir,  I'll,  326. 
Tuileries,  slept  in,  415. 
Tune,  out  of,  368. 

played  the  same,  529. 
Turbulence,  quiescence  of,  268. 


Turf,  blue  ribbon  of,  41. 
Turk,  the  unspeakable,  100. 
Turns,  take  three,  34:;. 
Twenty,  handsome  at,  300. 

rake  at,  4-'>l. 

Twice,  God  will  think,  325. 
Two,  between  the,  492. 

we  were,  82. 

Tyrannized  over,  have  been,  277. 
Tyranny,  bad  laws  a,  83. 

clemency  and,  473. 
Tyrant,  a  wicked,  2U4. 

if  Louis  a,  408. 
Tyrants,  argument  of,  446. 

resistance  to,  288. 

Ugh,  a  great,  405. 
Ugliness,  power  of,  390. 
Ugly,  know  that  he  is,  139. 

your  father  was,  519. 
Ugolino,  in  tower  of,  511. 
Umbrella,  an  old,  530. 
Unanimous,  if,  171. 
Unawares,  entertaining  angels,  465. 
Unclubable  man,  a  very,  299. 
Uncovered,  one  man,  114. 
Understand,  will  never,  254. 
Under-cats,  one  has,  423. 
Understanding,  heart  governs,  132. 

little  expense  of,  431. 

no  command  over,  502. 
Understood  the  other,  neither,  551. 
Undertaker's,  suit  at,  483. 
Uneasy,  fools  never,  255. 

you  are,  92. 

Uneasiness,  fruitful  of,  233. 
Unexpected,  always  the,  429. 
Unfurnished,  add,  492. 
Unfrock  you,  will,  197. 
Ungrateful,  men  not  so,  302. 
Unhappy,  when  I  was,  23. 
Union,  liberty  and,  562. 

our  Federal,  285. 

repeal  the,  98. 

Unmarried,  like  thee  better,  196. 
Unmuzzled,  am  come,  250. 
Unpunished,  fault  go,  459. 
Un-whig  him,  will,  220. 
Unreasonable,  is  nothing,  530. 
Uppermost,  believe  in,  50. 
Upstart  know%  let  the,  197. 
Use,  see  for,  67. 
Useless,  all  laws,  182. 
Utensil,  an  unnecessary,  189. 

Vce  victis,  70. 
Valet,  ask  my,  163. 

hero  to  his,  163. 
Valhalla,  build  a,  273. 
Valor,  modesty  equal  to,  559. 

true,  20. 

Value,  present  no,  382. 
Vane,  from  Sir  Harry,  168. 
Vanish,  world  did  not,  319. 
Vanishing,  respect  is,  470. 
Vanquished  thee,  have,  317. 
Varies,  every  woman,  224. 


608 


IXDEX. 


Vary,  modes  and  customs,  132. 
Veni,  vidi,  vici,  H3. 
Venom,  actions  full  of,  197. 
Verbosity,  thread  of,  452. 
Verities,  blazing,  139. 
Verity,  charter  a,  357. 
Verse,  hissed  for  good,  260. 

never  write  a,  451. 

rule  for,  551. 

Vespers,  in  time  for,  278. 
Vestry,  from  pulpit  to,  269. 
Veterans,  here,  148. 
Vice,  body  all,  292. 

more,  one,  123. 

selfishness  a,  50. 
Vices,  all  the,  390. 

braggart  of,  346. 

lacked  some,  488. 

practised  lighter,  303. 

produce  great,  448. 

told  of,  134. 
Victories,  monuments  for,  93. 

nothing  but,  441. 

see  more,  347. 
Victory,  a  bloodless,  358. 

another  such,  454. 

Carnot  organized,  402. 

holiday  for  each,  347. 

how  to  gain,  270. 

steal  a,  9. 
View,  lose  on  close,  164. 

world  keeps  in,  428. 
Views,  take  short,  499. 

quarrelling  with,  365. 
Vigilant,  a  consul  so,  148. 
Village,  first  in,  91. 
Vinegar,  life  of,  64. 
Virgin,  liberty  a,  34. 

lived  a,  196. 
Virginian,  not  a,  149. 
Virtue,  color  of,  104. 

envy  caused  by,  159. 

government  by,  159. 

humility  a,  479. 

man  of  complete,  160. 

married  public,  268. 

not  crimes  but,  143. 

not  person  who  loved,  160. 

separate  honor  from,  104. 

thinks  of,  160. 

what  is,  187. 
Virtues,  had  all  the,  69. 

has  all  the,  346. 

path  lay  across,  511. 

sacrifice  of,  501. 

Virtuous,  think  themselves,  529. 
Visits,  pay  those,  553. 
Vitality,  not  enough,  312. 
Vocabulary,  airing  his,  170. 
Voiture,  understanding  the,  131. 
Volcano,  dancing  on,  123. 
Volcanoes,  exhausted,  46. 
Voltaire,  cannot  imitate,  231. 

Hume,  echo  of,  294. 
Vo-luminous,  I  said,  490. 
Vulgarism,  depth  of,  99. 
Wait,  I  will,  52. 


"Waited,  I  almost,  355. 
Waiting,  if  I  keep  you,  239,  346. 
Wakes,  Antipater,  437. 
Walk,  cabs  go  at  a,  110. 

rise  and,  20. 

Wandered,  never  mind,  199. 
Want,  many  things  do  not,  506. 
War,  first  in,  561. 

I  hate,  161. 

have  loved, 349. 

love  and,  115. 

never  a  good,  205. 

no  little,  566. 

sinews  of,  145. 

prepare  for,  560. 

the  world  a,  552. 

this  is  my,  208. 
Warm,  blood  sufficiently,  536. 

friendships  so,  290. 
Warsaw,  order  reigns  in,  478. 
Washington,  Brougham  on,  561. 

France  wants,  323. 

last  words  of,  561. 

shall  imitate,  282. 

will  talk  of,  399. 
Watch-towers,  thrones  for,  490. 
Watches,  dictionaries  like,  311. 
Watching,  she  is,  268. 
Water,  blood  thicker  than,  523. 

bread  and,  498. 

cure,  the  first,  325. 

name  writ  in,  319. 

put  too  much,  88. 

knowledge  of  the,  131. 
Waterloo,  battle  of,  268. 

blow  at,  412. 

should  have  died  at,  412. 

meets  his,  441. 
Way,  common  beaten,  29. 

his  bow-wow,  313. 

never  in  the,  116. 

top  far  other,  499. 

will  find  a,  270. 
Ways  safest,  old,  154. 
Weak,  no  place  is,  38. 
Weakness,  Dantontio,  177. 
Weal,  according  to  common,  286. 
Wear  out,  better  to,  169. 
Weary,  add  very,  278. 
Weather,  London  has,  361. 
Weed,  slavery  a,  80. 
Weeded,  soils  to  be,  30. 
Weeks,  seven,  521. 
Weight,  knowledge  gives,  135. 
Well,  Ligarius  is,  96. 
Weep,  never  make  you,  475. 

why  I,  27. 

Welter,  business  in  a,  176. 
West,  farther  I  go,  289. 

Wolfe  immortalized,  428. 
Westminster  Abbey,  peerage  or,  419 
Whale,  a  stranded/SS. 
Whales,  talk  like,  313, 
Whig,  a  vile,  295. 
Whiggism,  Johnson  on,  295. 
Whigs,  dished  the,  185. 
Whip,  God  put  a,  99. 


INDEX. 


GOO 


Whistle,  heard  bullets,  559. 

it,  can  nobody,  '289. 
Why,  why  of  UK-,  396. 
Wickedness,  woman  admits,  402. 
Widow,  Molly  Stark's  a,  513. 
Wifr,  poor  beggar's,  103. 

Caesar's,  90. 

ditUcult  to  rule,  395. 

fond  of  my,  406. 

Italy  is  my,  1<>7. 

name  of  Scarron's,  475. 

qualities  of  a,  301. 

to  do  without,  360. 
Wig,  Samson  in  u,  504. 

shake  my,  390. 
Wigs,  make,  549. 
Wilderness,  had  been  in,  71. 

Saviour  in,  477. 
Wilkesite,  he's  a,  389. 
Will,  elect  those  that,  50. 

slave  to,  348. 
Willing,  fate  leads,  484. 
Wind,  straws  show,  481. 
Winding-sheet,  hang  a,  197. 
Window,  not  open,  510. 

St.  Petersburg  a,  435. 
Wine,  glass  of  good,  491. 
Wine-cellar,  emptied  your,  281. 
Winter,  yes,  last,  74. 
Wisdom,  law  result  of,  310. 

magnanimity,  truest,  80. 

silence  not  always,  155. 

what  we  call,  49. 

wit  and,  478. 

•with  how  little,  431. 
Wise,  contempt  of,  205. 

hard  to  keep,  255. 

woman  will  be,  360. 
Wiser,  never  seem,  133. 
Wisest,  to  the,  11. 
Wit,  accoucheuse  of,  460. 

a  man  of,  390. 

groundwork  of,  478. 

has  too  much,  396. 

injured  by  his,  205. 

invalids  of,  443. 

Mme.  de  Stael's,  512. 

readiness  of,  461. 

women  not  know  their,  479. 
With  you,  court  is,  201. 
Wits,  had  found  your,  164. 

lord  among,  137. 
Witty,  art  so,  447. 

how  extraordinarily,  505. 

makes  dull  men,  455. 

makes  others,  102. 
Woman,  man's  desire  for,  155. 

no  Spartan,  4. 

romance  of  pretty,  175. 

there  is  a,  402. 
Women,  amateurs  and,  258. 

to  live  in,  for,  4. 

man  liked  by,  310. 

men  govern,  103. 

men  have  proved,  575. 

no  ugly,  52. 

three  classes  of  old,  156. 


Won't,  will  and,  407. 
Wood,  throne  but,  410. 
Woodcock,  should  be,  216. 
Word,  death  but  little,  349. 

loss  for  the,  22(). 

not  a  French, 391. 

that  stupid,  391. 

to  country  belongs,  108. 
Words,  Coleridge's  waste,  157. 

fewer  the,  212. 

intoxicated  with,  175. 
Wordsworth,  Coleridge  on,  156. 
Work,  a  fine,  347. 

bidding  me  not,  477. 

finish  your,  287. 

we  must,  173. 

Workman,  shoemaker  not  good,  4. 
Works,  faith  and,  481. 

move  upon,  261. 
World,  all  women  in,  414. 

conquered  the,  124. 

first  king  in  the,  495. 

foolery  governs,  431. 

government  of  the,  44. 

imagination  rules,  408. 

is  another,  401. 

not  govern  the,  431. 

not  war  with,  512. 

peace  with,  403. 

reform  the,  384. 

see  him  in  this,  141. 

sent  men  into,  521. 

sick  of  the,  69. 

syllables  govern,  480. 

trouble  in  coming  into,  67, 

voice  which  shook,  319. 

•within,  the,  156. 

workshop  of,  186. 
Worlds,  made  those,  411. 
Worms,  devils  in,  359. 
Worth,  consulate  of  little,  104. 

doing  at  all,  131. 

men  of,  160. 

Worthily,  what  men  do,  50. 
Worthless,  contend  with,  384. 
Worthy,  to  most,  11. 
Wound,  feel  no,  161. 

is  yours,  119.    . 
Wounds,  truth  alone,  413. 
Wrinkles,  heart  no,  488. 
Write  it,  folly  to,  85. 
Writers,  know  three,  64. 
Writing  well,  secret  of,  451. 
Written,  deserve  to  be,  130. 

down,  no  man,  51. 
Wrong,  agree  when,  158. 

country,  right  or,  179. 

failed,  therefore  was,  415. 

persecutor  must  be,  434. 

too  many  people,  469. 
Wronged,  those  not,  509. 
Wrongs,  men  pity,  64. 

Yawning,  hiss  when,  445. 
Year,  almanac  of  single,  391. 
Years,  dead  two,  136. 
Yesterday,  I  dined,  452. 


G10 


INDEX. 


Yesterday,  I  thought  so,  378. 
You,  if  I  had,  38. 
Young,  -be  old  when,  568. 

beautiful  to  die,  129. 

must  be,  257. 

when  I  was,  465. 
Youth,  bad  habit  in,  38. 


Youth,  give  me  back,  26. 
O  fortunate,  8. 
old  age  of,  284. 

Zeal,  not  too  much,  520. 
Zeus,  employment  of,  138. 
Zeuxis,  slowness  of,  575. 


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